Through The Years
by LouBelle04
Summary: A look at Ruth's life in the security services.
1. Chapter 1

**Through The Years**

**Pre-2.2**

Ruth was met down at Thames House security by Jed, who told her that fetching her up to the inner sanctum of Section D was his last act as a spook, albeit one of the desk variety. He said that he felt it was time to move on, after the betrayal of Tessa, who even Ruth and the mathematicians had heard about at GCHQ. As they were making their way up to the third floor to the Grid, Ruth felt a sense of weariness coming from Jed, as ran her through the names and stories of some of the people on the Grid.

As Ruth stepped into the pods for the first time, she looked around her in wonder. The fabled centre of counter-terrorism lived up to all the rumours and expectations she had heard muttered in corners of GCHQ. Jed walked with her over to a glass walled office to one side of the pods. He knocked on the door and waited for a gruff "come in" before he opened the door.

"I've got Ruth Evershed from GCHQ here, sir." As Jed left he smiled at Ruth and gave her his best wishes for her new job.

As Ruth wandered into the office of the notorious Harry Pearce for the first time, half walking into the door in the process, she was feeling slightly nervous, but was instantly put at ease when the man at the desk stood up to greet her with a handshake.

"It's Harry. I hate being called 'sir'. Here I have your security pass and key-card for the pods. You'll need to sign the form and bring it back in when you start tomorrow." Harry handed Ruth a brown envelope with her name marked in a black scrawl she would come to recognise as Harry's.

"I'm afraid I can't stay any longer long Miss Evershed; we've got a lot on at the moment, I'm sure you understand." Harry picked up some papers from his desk, before following Ruth to the door.

"It's Ruth, please. Miss Evershed makes me feel as if I'm back in school. Would you like to me do anything today?"

"No, head home, I'm sure you've got things to do before you start officially."

"Nothing except reading the Odyssey to my cat, unfortunately."

Harry who had been locking his office door glanced up to meet Ruth's eyes and matched her smile.

"Come to my office when you get in, I'll let you know where we are in our open cases. Until tomorrow." There was a slight pause before.. "Ruth."

His intonation had the desired response as the lady in question quirked an eyebrow with a smile before nodding a goodbye to her new boss. Ruth walked back to the pods and let herself out with her newly acquired key-card. As she made her way back down to the exit, she grinned to herself, realising she would love working at Thames House.

**So! Here's my new fic, I'm not sure how it's going to work out yet, but it's a multi-chap, based on what's onscreen, and using bits and bobs from Harry's Diary and the Personnel Files. It's (as you can see) mainly from Ruth's POV, and this is only a short chapter as a beginning offering. The chapters may end up longer than this, or they may be quite short, but I've no idea yet, you'll probably find out at the same time I do!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	2. Chapter 2

**2.2**

Not for the first time that morning, Ruth felt as though she would either burst from excitement, or be sick, she couldn't decide which. Today was her first day at MI-5, on a six month secondment from GCHQ. "Junior Intelligence Analyst" was her job title to be. At 33, Ruth was almost ecstatic to be finally leaving GCHQ, on what she hoped could turn into a permanent move to the security services. As she stepped, just before 9am, onto the Grid for the second time in as many days, she was distinctly reminded of yesterday's visit as, once again, the place was almost devoid of life. As instructed the previous day, Ruth walked over to Harry's office, and quietly tried to slide the door open. Finding it locked, she found a corner in which to dump her bag and coat, she went in search of somebody who might know where she was supposed to be.

She came across a younger Scottish woman who pointed her to her desk and the mountain of files that had been placed there in preparation for her arrival. As Ruth became engrossed in the documents before her, she was distracted by a soft cough to her left. Looking up, she saw a man in glasses standing there.

"Hi! I'm Ruth." Holding out her hand to the man, he took it and smiled. "I've just transferred from GCHQ. Have you any idea where Harry Pearce is? He said to go to his office when I got here, but nobody seems to be in the glass cocoon over there!"  
"Colin. Nice to meet you, Ruth. Harry's in the meeting room - down that way. Harry actually asked me to send you in when you arrived. Have you been in long?"  
"Only about ten minutes. Shall I go in now?"  
"That would be good. See you later, Ruth."

As Colin wandered away, Ruth realised she didn't actually know through which door the meeting room was. She decided to head in the general direction that Colin had indicated and hope for the best. After taking her files on a detour to the kitchenette, a cupboard - where she noticed a multitude of coats and filed the location away for future reference - and something she presumed to be the Forgery Suite, where Colin was tapping away at a computer. Eventually she found two sliding doors. She heard voices from within and hoped she hadn't missed too much.

"Oh you're in here."  
As Ruth opened the doors, she spotted Harry and promptly dropped her files everywhere.  
"Oh, sorry!"

_Well done, Ruth. Great first impression. Right, pretend nothing happened._

As Harry introduced her to the others, an attractive man approached her with his hand outstretched.

"Ah. Tom Quinn."  
Ruth made an attempt to return the handshake, but realised that with an armful of files it wouldn't be the easiest option. She noticed that, with the exception of Harry, those gathered around the table were looking confused.  
"You didn't know I was coming…"  
As Tom began to explain, Harry interrupted, telling Ruth that he wanted her up to speed on their current threat.  
"Oh, am I late?" Ruth really hoped not; what a great impression that would make on her first day at MI-5.  
"You're our intelligence analyst, you should know." As Harry held Ruth's gaze before turning to Zoe, he missed the confused looks shared between the others at the table.

_Well, that leaves me none the wiser. Wait, is he trying to make a joke?_

As Harry moved swiftly onto topic, and she was plied with information, Ruth began churning out ideas.  
"Is the mosque bugged?"  
The man to her right, who looked to be in his late twenties answered, "We have tried. But they carry out regular sweeps."  
"Sounds like some jolly trade craft." A thought struck Ruth while she was speaking. "How did they know you were in the obbo van?"  
The girl across from her looked up in surprise. "No idea."  
"Ah. Ramallah whispers." Ruth said, quietly.  
As all heads turned towards her, all but one, Harry's, registered confusion. Harry's features held a look which seemed to Ruth to be somewhere between pride and knowledge.  
"The Palestinians are terrific at it. People at windows, on street corners... They signal each other where an enemy vehicle's passing"  
"Oh. Right." The girl across from Ruth spoke again, with a hint of respect for the new woman in their midst.

Ruth wondered if they had thought of a simple solution to their problem. She looked up to find Harry's eyes on her, as they had been for a fair amount of the meeting. She met his eyes, and offered a soft smile before asking; "Why don't we just close the place down?"  
As Ruth had directed her question at Harry, the man next to her was careful not to make eye contact with those across from him.  
"Home Office directive. 'Community sensitive policy parameters.' In real speak: they don't want a riot."  
"Bugger the Home Office." As heads once more snapped her way, Ruth almost kicked herself. _Think THEN speak, Evershed.  
_Harry however, once again seemed amused at her comment, so Ruth felt that perhaps all was not lost.

* * *

As Ruth returned to her desk, she noticed that her lamp would not stay where it was put. Standing up to attempt a quick-fix job, she fiddled with the lamp's arm and failed to notice Sam, Zoe and Danny, who she had been introduced to as they left the meeting room, sat at another desk, watching her.  
As they watched Ruth struggle with the lamp, they began to speak in low tones.  
"Not a hunky alpha male after all." Zoe said. There was the distinct impression of this being the continuation from a previous conversation about their new colleague.  
Sam smiled, "alpha female, though."  
Zoe, slightly disgruntled by this, looked over to Danny. "What do you think?"  
As Zoe spoke, Ruth let out a frustrated cry of "oh, thing!"  
Danny turned from Ruth to face Zoe and Sam. "Bonkers."  
"But brilliant." Zoe added. "That Ramallah whispers thing. We had no idea it even went on."  
At that moment, Ruth shouted defeat across the room, and dumped the uncooperative lamp on the floor before sitting down and starting on the computer.

* * *

As Ruth began to dig around and work her way around the computer a thought suddenly hit her. _Come on Ruth, wake up! This could be the way into the mosque and you'd completely forgotten about it!  
_She worked her way into the French network and into their inner sanctum as quickly as possible before printing off a screenshot from the New Scotland Yard CCTV system.  
She ran to the printers, grabbed the piece of paper and made her way to the briefing room, where the main team were gathered, knocking on the window as she went.  
As Ruth sped into room, she began explaining herself.

"This happened yesterday. A tramp off the street it seemed, making trouble at New Scotland Yard. And silly, silly me, I've just twigged." She walked around Zoe and Danny in order to place her findings on the table in front of Harry.  
"Twigged what?" He questioned.  
"At GCHQ just before I left, we picked up a signal about an Algerian." She slid the paper along to Danny and Zoe as she spoke. "I've hacked into the aliens data base of the Secretariat General de La Defense Nationale…"  
Harry interrupted her, yet again looking impressed, slightly proud, and possibly reproachful. "You hacked into the French Security Service…"  
Ruth grinning, looked to Harry. "They do it to us, we do it to them. This is the tramp the plods threw out onto the street."  
As Ruth put another paper in front of Harry he read out the name on the document. "Muhammad Ibhn Khaldun."  
Ruth nodded her agreement and said, mainly to herself. "Poor man. Terrible story."  
Harry looked at Ruth for a moment before simply "yes?"  
Ruth took this as a prompt to explain. Meeting Harry's eyes, she dived in with everything she knew. When she had finished, Harry turned to Tom.  
"And Special Branch nearly chucked him out. Tom, go to him."

As everybody made to leave the room, Harry lightly touched Ruth's arm. She turned back towards him, questioning. As Ruth looked up towards Harry, he removed his hand and smiled at her, not for the first time that day.  
"Well done, good find. This could be the man we need to crack this case. And in your first 24 hours with us. Keep up the good work."  
With that, he made his way from the room, leaving Ruth to gather the rest of her papers before following him out.

* * *

After five more days of research and planning, Tom was preparing the raid on the mosque, whilst Harry, Ruth and Sam were in the meeting room, sounding out possible targets of the suicide bomber.  
As Sam left to get some more coffee for the three of them, Harry walked over to the wall, checking his watch.

"The raid will start in… thirty minutes."  
"I've been looking forward to action in this job, goody." Ruth looked up, smiling, from her place at the table towards Harry, whose expression had suddenly turned murderous.  
"'Goody?' What's 'goody' about it? You've been at GCHQ too long. This job isn't all about sneaking on people with microphones and CCTV cameras - then sending others in to do the dirty work!" His voice was sharp enough to cut glass.

Ruth sat in stunned silence at how quickly her small, albeit bad, joke had turned the atmosphere in the room arctic. She blinked rapidly, hoping to dispel the tears she suddenly found in her eyes.  
Quietly, she spoke. "I just meant…"  
Harry interrupted in a flat voice, "did you."

Ruth fell silent once more, wishing that Sam would return with the drinks. Anything to remove the horrible tension from the room.  
After a moment Harry broke the silence. "Apologies."  
Ruth looked up, surprised. Harry didn't strike her as the type to apologise with words. She nodded slightly, "Accepted"  
Harry nodded his thanks in return and checked his watch again. "Twenty-eight minutes."

* * *

Five hours later, Tom returned to the Grid, with the weight of an operation gone wrong on his shoulders. As Harry led Tom into his office, Ruth looked on, still reeling from both the operation, and her altercation with Harry in the meeting room. _You've been here a week and already given him the wrong impression. If you carry on like this Ruth, you'll never be allowed to mover here permanently._She was horrified to find that, once again, her eyes were wet.

As Tom made his way out of Harry's office, across the Grid and out of the pods, Harry stepped out from his glass walls and addressed the remaining members of his team. "As unfortunate as the deaths were, our primary objective was still obtained. Well done, we have stopped a dangerous extremist from killing on our shores. Let's clock off early and get out of here. Who will accompany me to The George?"

As the others murmured their acceptance, before moving to collect their coats, Harry turned to Ruth. "What about you. Will you join us?"  
Ruth kept her eyes on her desk, pretending to read the files in front of her. "No, thank you, I have plans tonight. Another time, maybe."  
"I understand. Have you and your cat completed The Odyssey?"  
Ruth chanced a quick look up to meet Harry's eyes. He was smiling, but the look quickly vanished when he noticed the tears in Ruth's gaze.  
"Come on Ruth, after a day like this, you shouldn't be alone. Let me buy you a drink. In apology for earlier."  
"It's okay, Harry, really." And suddenly it was. Ruth smiled at Harry before switching off her computer. "And anyway, we've moved onto Homer's Illiad now."

Harry's features softened from their previous tension and nodded his acquiescence.  
"I'll see you tomorrow, then."  
"Bye, Harry."

* * *

**There we go, chapter 2. Hope you've enjoyed it. I found some absolute gold in the scripts, things which were never filmed, so I've gone with a lot of those, just to make it a little different from what we see on screen!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	3. Chapter 3

**2.3**

Ruth was pacing up and down the meeting room frantically, every so often turning to look nervously at the other members of the team. Danny and Sam had been out in the field, attempting to stop a hacker from making their way into the MI-5 mainframe, a major security breach. Ruth was in a panic and couldn't stop fiddling with her hands as she walked.

"So let me understand this; at 11.27 today, someone thrust a hand up our skirt. Our Thames House mainframe was hacked into from a remote site." Harry ran through the details of the hacking as Ruth continued to pace and make the rest of the team nervous.

_How on Earth am I going to write a report on this without any of the team finding out?_ _Wait and see how it plays out, Evershed. Don't panic._

At that moment, Ruth was distracted from her thoughts as Harry turned towards the screen at the end of the meeting room, and Zoe began to read aloud the words which had been left for them by their hackers.

"'Zeus spoke and nodded with his darkish brows and immortal locks fell forward from the lord's deathless head, and he made great Olympus tremble.'"

As Ruth began to speak, all heads turned towards her. "The Iliad. Homer. 8th century BC. The quote's a threat. Olympus was the seat of power in ancient Greece. Here, it trembles." Ruth felt hyperaware of Harry pacing close behind her, but continued, regardless. "So; whoever they are, they want to bring us down."

"A little.. inflammatory, Ruth." Harry leant towards her as he spoke, before moving away, leaving Ruth almost apoplectic.

"Inflammatory?! You said it yourself, we've just been raped!"

"No, no. No. Harry said we were groped." Tom interrupted before Ruth could panic anymore. "We weren't penetrated. MI-5 has a website just like Marks and Spencer or the Natural History Museum. These hackers broke in via that website. They got nowhere near the Inner Sanctum. It's like demonstrators breaking into Parliament and letting off fireworks. Alarming but hardly a threat to the constitution."

Ruth huffed in disbelief, as she turned to Harry, hoping for some support. Before she could argue her case, Harry began; "I think you should work on that Homeric quote Ruth." Ruth's face fell as she realised Harry wasn't going to include her in the rest of the debrief. She was irritated that he wasn't as worried about this as she was. "See what connections you can make. Yeah?" Harry's voice caressed the last word, as he fixed Ruth with a stare which made her irritation at her boss almost vanish completely.

Ruth nodded slightly, before leaving the room. She heard Harry's voice, still in that low tone he had used to placate her, speak to the others as she went to close the door behind her. "You three stay. I want to know what went wrong out there today."

Ruth walked from the meeting room swiftly, only slowing to glance back at the other occupants of the room, who it seemed were receiving a sever ear bashing from Harry. _Perhaps he is taking this threat seriously, then. Thank God. I'm sure he would have covered something about the Ancient Greeks in his Philosophy, Politics and Economics masters._

Ruth returned to her desk and accessed Homer's The Iliad online, to see if she could make any sense of what the hell was going on.

_If Harry wants to give me grunt work, then I'll do the best damn job of it he's ever seen._

* * *

Four hours later, Harry is stood looking over his team from his office. After watching Tom and Zoe making their way into the forgery suite, his eyes fall on Ruth as she sits, half hidden, behind a stack of paperwork and files which look like they could collapse at any minute. The woman herself is tapping furiously at her computer, with papers scattered all around her. It's as Ruth throws the pen she was chewing across the room, almost dislodging the Leaning Tower of Paper in front of her, that Harry decides to intervene. He arrives silently at Ruth's desk, listening to her mutter mutinously to herself. Harry picks the uppermost paper from the pile to announce his presence to Ruth, who looks suddenly embarrassed to be caught talking aloud.

"The Net offers sixty-eight thousand references to Zeus or Mount Olympus." Ruth sounds as exasperated as she looks. "Sixty-eight THOUSAND, Harry. And that's not even counting the masses of files I've taken from the Registry archives which have links or codenames referencing the Ancient Greeks. This is.. impossible, Harry."

"Look for a cross-reference. Work round the clock if you have to." As Harry speaks, Tom and Zoe return from the Forgery Suite, armed with Zoe's new undercover identity as a schoolteacher, and leave the Grid, looking determined (Tom) and apprehensive (Zoe).

"Harry. Is trawling through this actually helpful in any way, other than reminding me of all the things I'd forgotten from my degree?"

Harry leans towards her, and lowers his voice in a secretive manner. "Ruth." He speaks her name in the same tone of voice he had used earlier, in the meeting room; the one which made her feel flustered. "What you are personally doing is helping me enormously."

With that, Harry walked away, leaving Ruth behind him, confused and slightly rattled.

* * *

As the alarm resounded through the Grid for the second time in as many days, Ruth is still working her way through the manila folders full of files at her desk. She looks up as Harry leans over Tom and Colin who are attempting to work out what the hacker is trying to access. She subtly continues to watch, as he confers with the pair on the computers, transfixed by the calmness of them all in the midst of a situation. Only once the panic is over and Harry has returned to his office, does Ruth continue with her research.

* * *

It has just passed 9pm before Ruth is distracted from her work, and once again, Harry is her distraction. She spots him pacing his office, fully dressed in his coat, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to keep warm as he holds a short meeting with Zoe, Tom and Danny. A meeting which Ruth, once again, is not privy to. She, like the others, is dressed for the cold night outdoors, as Harry has shut down any computer-controlled appliances, including the heating. She watches the foursome from her place at her desk, feeling completely put out by her lack of meaningful input into this operation. She is sure she could be doing something more helpful than trawling through references to the Ancient Greeks, which may be completely useless to their plight. As she watches them, she catches Harry's eye across The Grid and holds his gaze for a moment or two, before returning to her theorising. She had noticed a technical difference between the message left by their hacker and the passage as taken from The Iliad, but was at a loss as to whether it was significant, or just a different translation.

Tom, Zoe and Danny left The Grid after ten or so minutes, leaving Harry sat at his desk, fiddling noncommittally with some paperwork. A short while passes, before Harry's eye is caught by Ruth working at her desk.

Alone on The Grid, with an edition of The Iliad is open in front of her, written in its original Greek, Ruth makes a lonely figure, even to a hardened spy, such as himself. She's translating a passage to herself quietly as Harry walks over to her desk.

"There's no history of anyone using ancient Greek text in this way. So I'm trying to think laterally. We once had a codename Zeus, but that's literally it."

Harry's lips quirked slightly in recollection; "Oh yes, Algerian dissidents trying to buy a dirty atomic weapon. Giddy days."

There is a pause as Ruth meets Harrys' eyes from her seated position.

"Harry - I feel like everyone is doing something whilst I'm painting the Forth Bridge."

Harry looks away from her piercing gaze momentarily, finding an interest in the leaking biro in her hand, instead.

"Rubbish! Not one of them has your stamina in such matters as this." Harry pats Ruth on the shoulder, leaving his hand resting there _infinitesimally too long to be considered appropriate, before trailing his fingers along the back of her neck as he walks behind her on his journey back to his office. He collects his coat and briefcase and then makes his way to the pods, bidding Ruth a quick goodnight as he goes, and telling her not to work too late._

_Ruth is, once again, left reeling in Harry's wake; something she is noticing is becoming a nasty habit of his._

_Well, perhaps not a _nasty _habit._

* * *

Another two days pass, and Ruth is still working on the Homeric quote. The same words seem to be on repeat over and over again on the screen in front of her, without making any more sense than the last time she read them. Ruth has been sticking to her words about doing the best job she possibly can with the endless research, and hasn't left The Grid before 10pm since. She yawns loudly, causing Colin to look up from his terminal in surprise. Ruth grins at him, sheepishly, before making her excuses for the night and heading home.

* * *

The next morning, Ruth arrives at The Grid at 7am precisely, to find Harry stood at her terminal, shuffling through some of her paperwork from the week. She blinks nervously, deposits her coat and bag in the cloakroom, greets Colin and Zoe, before sitting down at her terminal. Harry stands back slightly to let her sit down, before resuming his previous position, now at her shoulder. She switches her computer on, and waits for it to load while she speaks.

"Everything okay, Harry?"

"Just looking at this quote here. You've crossed out Zeus?"

"Yes, the original wording is slightly different. The hacker and I probably own different translations. I don't think it's anything of importance, but I am looking into it."

"Good." Harry murmurs before perching on the end of her desk. "You're in early, aren't you?"

Ruth turns to face Harry. "As are you, Zoe and Colin."

"Quite."

She smiles softly and opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted by an alarm. "What is it?" she asks.

As Harry jumps up from his place on her desk, Colin answers. "The firewall's under attack."

Ruth begins to press some buttons on her keyboard and turns slightly to glance behind her, towards Harry, but is met with a view of his chest as he moves to stand behind her. Ruth, turning back to her computer terminal, draws a quick breath, feeling a warm hand brush against her back, as Harry positions himself in order to better view her computer screen. As Colin types away, frantically, Ruth presses a few more buttons, to try and isolate from where their hacker is operating, as Colin and Zoe try to stop their firewall from crumbling. Ruth can feel Harry's hot breath at her ear as he mutters a few choice swear words to himself, neither of which is helping Ruth's concentration.

The Grid's lighting changes to a red hue, as Tom and Danny come running into view. Harry stands up and finally moves away from Ruth. "The Angel of Death is over us."

As a spider appears, forming another message on each terminal: 'Highdale school is getting a visit from number 94.' Ruth skim reads it before standing abruptly, rushing from the room. A pair of eyes follow her curiously, before switching back into focus over his team, as they spew up ideas as to what could be meant by number 94. Ruth returns with a sheet of paper, which she hands to Tom. "Periodic table." She clarifies, as Tom runs his finger down to find out which element has the atomic number of 94.

Plutonium. _Shit._

* * *

Returning from interviewing Gordon Blaney, the history teacher at Zoe's school and their most promising suspect in the hacking, Tom writes the name "Peter Ellis" on a pad of paper, before leaving it on his desk and heading out the door. Ruth notices and grabs Sam as she passes. "Who's Peter Ellis?"

"Oh, he's a boy from the school. Blaney mentioned him. He and Zoe were with him in the shed when Blaney skipped out on his class the other day. Zoe followed him and found him in the shed. That's where they found the Geiger scrambler which confused the scintillation counters. Blaney said he didn't put it there, and the only other person in the shed was the kid, so they're checking it out."

Ruth sat, deep in thought. "A boy?" she clarified with Sam, who nodded.

"Important?"

"Maybe. It's a new factor. I can feed it into my cross-reference for the quote."

Ruth takes the pad of paper and returns to her desk to try another angle in her research. A few minutes pass as Sam hovers with Ruth, chatting idly.

Ruth looks up suddenly. "Sam. I need you to do me a favour. Get down to the Registry and pick up a surveillance recording from 2001."

Sam nods and heads out of the pods.

As yet another message appears on the screen, Harry reads it aloud; "' "We have access to every part of you. Even the Inner Sanctum. We will now download everything. We will expose every one of your dirty secrets. Your people will be free and Olympus will crumble. Good riddance.'"

Ruth looks up as she hears the word 'Olympus'. She spots Sam running towards her, with a tape in hand. "This is it."

She listened to the tape with a growing sense of worry and scribbled her notes out onto Tom's pad of paper. As the tape ended, Ruth unplugged her headphones and made her way over to Harry, where he was sat on Sam's desk.

"'Zeus spoke and nodded with his darkish brows.' Yes?" Harry turned towards her.

"What?"

"The original translation is 'The son of _Kronos_ spoke and nodded with his darkish brow.' Zeus was the son of Kronos. Kronos was a powerful Titan but his son became even more powerful. In a sense, it's a reference to a powerful child."

As Ruth spoke, Harry's face showed dawning comprehension, which quickly changed to scepticism.

"And there I was getting worried." Harry stood up from Sam's desk, turning fully to face Ruth, who continued.

"Sometimes you just need one more factor. I thought seeing as you were interested in this boy." She paused, as Harry's face was still doubtful. "Look, Put it all together - Greece, Titans, Kronos, spiders, fathers and sons, the lot. And you get something."

"What."

"This is an old surveillance recording I had sent up from the Registry." Harry glanced towards Sam, who pressed play on the tape player.

"It's from a farmhouse in Greece eighteen months ago. A mountain place near the Albanian border called Titan's Reach."

Harry closed his eyes as he realised exactly what Ruth was telling him. They listened to the tape, hearing a child's voice, angry about the ruination of a spider's web. Harry, with his eyes still closed, nodded in defeat, with a hint of self-recrimination playing across his features.

Although it seemed there was no need to explain to Harry, Ruth spoke anyway, to let the others know what they had just heard. "That was Noah Gleeson. Recorded by an officer with a surveillance mike outside the farmhouse."

Harry opened his eyes slowly, meeting Ruth's gaze, silently commending her for her findings. "Noah Gleeson. Son of Victor Gleeson."

There was a long pause as Harry paced around his team. "Victor Gleeson was our man in Athens. Only relative; his son. Noah. They had apartments in the embassy compound. You'd heard of Noah hadn't you Danny?"

"Boy was a computer genius. Destined for great things."

"He worshipped his father. Victor's cover story was that he was working for the embassy but in fact he was working under-cover with some Albanian terrorists. Well. he slipped up, somehow. They kidnapped him and Noah eighteen months ago. They were taken to a farmhouse called Titan's Reach." Once again, Harry looked towards Ruth, acknowledgment on his features. "We wanted to go in, but were afraid of hurting the boy. Victor was killed."

* * *

Over the comms-link, Tom and Zoe could be heard reasoning with a tearful Noah Gleeson, as the team back on The Grid, awaited the outcome nervously. Finally, _thankfully_, the lights on The Grid returned to their normal state, signalling the end of the hacking, and that Tom or Zoe had managed to talk Noah around. Eceryone breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but smile at each other.

Harry sought out Ruth from across the room and offered her a congratulatory smile, which she returned briefly, before looking down, her face suddenly showing a hint of shyness, along with relief and pride of a job well done.

* * *

**So, I realised that you probably need to be quite aware of the intricacies of each episode to understand exactly what's going on in each episode, as I'm mainly sticking to what Ruth is privy to, and her interactions with Harry. Saying that, there aren't any 'moments' with other people really so far.**

**From reading the scripts, I totally get what Nicola and Peter meant about sensing something between their characters, although it's nothing explicit.**

**~LouBelle04~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Pre-2.4**

As Ruth walked into the meeting room, she was glad to see that instead of his usual stony face, Harry was practically beaming at them. Glancing at Tom, she saw that he was also slightly less angsty than usual. She turned to Zoe and Danny, silently and subtly asking them what's going on.

"What's the look for, Ruth?"

Ah. Not subtly enough then.

"You look.. happy, Harry."

"Yes, yes I do. I'm sure you will all know why."

Realisation dawned on the faces of both Zoe and Danny, but Ruth was still none the wiser.

"The World Cup, Ruth." Danny explained.

"Oh." She nodded, then paused. "Sorry, still not understanding."

"England match last night. They played Australia." Tom took up the explanation, smiling slightly at the nonplussed look Ruth was sporting.

Zoe smiled. "They won then?"

Harry grinned once more. "They did indeed."

"I didn't have you down as a football fan, Harry." Ruth was surprised at his enthusiasm for the game, which she thought he would have judged as a boring sport. Impressions can be wrong, she reminded herself.

The entire team turned towards Ruth, their expressions ranging from outraged to incredulous.

"What? What did I say?"

"Rugby, Ruth! Not bloody football!" Harry's face held its outraged look.

"Sorry?" Ruth wasn't quite sure what was going on. "I didn't realise they were playing. Not a sports fan, you see."

It was Tom's turn to be amazed. "How can you not have heard about it. Ruth, it's been everywhere!"

Danny sat, grinning. "I'm not a rugby fan, Ruth, but even I knew about it. More of a football and cricket man myself."

Ruth sat, thinking.

"Hang on, does Johnny Wilkinson play for England?" she asked.

Harry and Tom looked at each other.

"Yes! Finally, we're getting somewhere." Harry grinned.

"Ruth, if you didn't even know that England were playing, how do you know who Johnny Wilkinson is?" Zoe asked her, confused.

"Just because I don't follow the sport, it doesn't mean that I would complain if he wanted to make me Mrs Wilkinson. He's rather lovely, I think. I'm sure I'd learn to love rugby if I got to watch him play all day." Ruth smiled at the team, raising her eyebrows, hoping for backup from Zoe, at least.

"Don't look at me, I'm a hockey girl. These names just fly over my head."

While Tom and Danny laughed at Ruth and Zoe, Harry was staring at Ruth with a strange look of contemplation. As he was thinking, the lady in his thoughts caught his gaze. "You okay, Harry?"

"Yes, sorry. Time to get on, I think."

And with that, he moved away from their discussion of the various sports, and onto their current topic of discussion.

* * *

**So, I thought this would be a fun little extra to do. It's not in the episodes, of course, but it is a part of Harry's Diary, and I thought it would be quite nice. It's very tempting to do this from Harry's POV. Maybe an idea for another time (or someone else!)**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

**LBx**


	5. Chapter 5

**2.4**

As Sam handed round the tea and biscuits to those assembled in the meeting room, she received a nod of thanks from Ruth, who, along with the others, thought that their current operation was not quite within the MI-5 remit. In addition to the confusion about their task, Ruth was also feeling nervous, as she was feeling pressure from above to report her actions.

As Zoe gave Ruth a quick run-down of their suspect, John Lightwood - who had been accused by the higher-ups at Bowman Bank, and Downing Street of stealing £20million of the government's money - she pushed a picture towards Ruth. "I had Special Branch turn over Lightwood's flat. The bank identified this as Tim Prachett, also a trader at Bowman's. Looks like he and John Lightwood were best mates."

Before Ruth could reply, Harry entered the room.

"Do I get the impression that you all hate doing this?" Tom, Zoe and Danny all looked at each other, silently agreeing, whilst Ruth chanced a quick look towards Harry, then looked down and across the table before he could identify the expression on her face.

Harry dropped a file on the table and continued. "I'm with you. Enough playing at PC plods. We're putting an officer into this bank, undercover. No-one pulls the wool over our eyes. And no-one will be told. Certainly not Sir Richard Bowman."

Danny looked across at Ruth and Tom, before looking back to Harry.

"So who's going in?"

Wordlessly, Harry dropped a thick file in front of Danny.

"What, me?" Danny was surprised. "Undercover in a bank?"

"You have a history of swindling credit cards, I would have thought that makes you perfect for the job." Harry was deadpan as he explained his choice to Danny, who seemed torn between being affronted and excited.

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Sarcastic, or honest? Ruth couldn't work it out.

Tom joined the conversation. "They're looking to replace John Lightwood. We'll make sure you get the job. Malcolm will give you a legend and a great CV and Ruth will give you a crash course on share trading." Ruth turned slightly toward Tom, grinning, before speaking.

"Don't worry Danny, it's all about cheating people." She smiled at him affectionately as he replied, mouth full of biscuit. "Oh, right."

"Zoe. I want you in there as well. Go through records, files, anything you can lay your hands on. We're looking records of John Lightwood transferring this money. I want to know what they're not telling us about this old family bank." Harry passed Zoe another file as he spoke.

"Great. We can see who can make the most money." She raised her eyebrows at Danny in competition.

"You'll make zilch. You'll be a cleaner." Harry shot down Zoe with those two short sentences.

* * *

Ruth is perched on the edge of a desk which isn't hers, headset in place, and has the stock market's fluctuating prices before her on the computer screen. Danny is across The Grid at Ruth's desk, with the same information on his screen and a phone in his hand. Tom is watching them both.

Danny glances up at Ruth uncertainly, raising the phone to his ear as he does. "Buying half a yard at 75."

Ruth looks back at him; "Okay, done. Zurich Silver."

Danny clicks a pen nervously before; "Selling half a yard at 82."

Ruth scrunches up her nose, looking at the screen as she teases him. "Too high Danny."

Danny looks from the screen to Ruth, smiling slightly. "Look at Singapore."

"Cripes." Ruth's small smile turns to a full grin. "Okay, done."

Her eyes are still on her screen as Danny sits back in his chair, arms raised in a celebratory pose. Tom stands and walks around his desk. "Ruth, what just happened?"

Ruth is still perched on the edge of a desk, her face unreadable, but for a slight twinkle in her eyes. "Danny just made fifty grand." She turns to Tom, who joins her on the desk edge. "Or he would have if we'd been really trading."

"How do you know all about this stuff?" he asks, eyes on Ruth's computer.

As Ruth stares into the gap between Tom and Danny, slightly wistful, she replies. "I was in love with a big swinging dick." She looks towards Tom, to find his eyes on her, both confused and amused. She grins mischievously at him, her face lighting up. "That's slang for a trader." She keeps her eyes on Tom who nods slightly, a smile on his face, before he brings the conversation back to work.

"How's Danny measuring up?"

Ruth removes her headset as she answers. "Oh, he's a huge talent." A grin from Danny across the room lets her know that he's heard her. Ruth observes him, with a proud look on her face.

"I was afraid of that." Said Tom.

The stack of files Ruth had brought with her for her short desk move included a photography on John Lightwood. "Are your old mates as GCHQ helping?" Tom asked, catching sight of it.

"They traced his mobile phone number. But it's not been used since he disappeared. Nothing's flagged up at airports, ferries. Looks like he's gone to ground."

"Damn."

As Tom walked away, Danny sauntered over to Ruth. "A huge talent, eh? Didn't know you'd been looking, Ruth."

Ruth, surprised, thought back over her conversation with Tom, recognition dawning as she realised that it could have been interpreted, to the dirty-minded, aka Danny, as she blushed a brilliant pink. In lieu of answering, Ruth hit him with a stack of files on the desk, as he walked away laughing softly at her.

* * *

"Jazzer, Josh at Bowmans, yeah great socking it to the natives over here..." From The Grid, Ruth sat on the phone to Danny, who was sat at a computer terminal at Bowman's.

Tom is studying the computer over Ruth's shoulder, one hand on the desk, the other resting on the back of her chair. Ruth speaks into her headset.

"There's a GCHQ report the German Government's about to manipulate the cost of German steel. They want the price up five points."

"No trade." Danny responds.

As Danny speaks to the man next to him, Ruth and Tom exchange a glance, the link to Danny's telephone always open.

"This is Joshua Ikoli her at Bowman's..."

For Ruth, the day continues in much the same vein, trying to find anything to help Danny at Bowman's, while the hustle and bustle of The Grid escapes her notice, so focussed is she on her task.

* * *

At 7am, Ruth walked into the meeting room where Tom, Danny and Harry were assembled, just in time to hear Harry begin their debriefing.

"Right: money laundering, do we all understand it?"

"You wash the money clean." Stated Danny.

Ruth put a file on the desk as she removed her coat.

"I see launderettes." Harry was deadpan.

"Right" Ruth grinned as Danny continued.

"But it's not laundrettes, it's banks. You move the money from one bank to another around the world, so fast no one knows where it came from in the first place."

Harry stood over Ruth's shoulder as she sat down, reading the file she was opening. Ruth caught a waft of a very nice aftershave as he spoke. "So Bowman's is...?"

"One bank on the way. It can be there then not there in a second." Danny clicked his fingers to emphasise his point. "Don't think of cash, coins and notes. It's… it's like a cloud." Harry looked, his face not showing the surprise he felt. "It can be blown all around the world, it can be split into little clouds, it can gather in a big storm in one place. It's a very beautiful thing, money."

Danny glances towards Ruth, and then back at Harry.

Tom smiled before directing his question towards Ruth. "So do we have anything on this bank in Lugarno?"

"It's a Swiss Bank." Ruth slid the file over to Tom. "God Almighty himself wouldn't get a bank statement out of them. And its computers are state of the art fire-walled. You can't even get a list of who works for it."

"Do they have a London office or branch?" Harry looked at Ruth.

"Actually yes." Ruth in turn, moved her gaze from Tom to Harry. "They have a suite of rooms permanently booked at the Royal Paramount Hotel, Mayfair."

"A hotel suite?" Tom questioned.

"To entertain clients discreetly." Ruth raised her eyebrows at Tom.

"Maxi Baxter. I think she slept with John Lightwood. Can we get everything on her?" As Danny spoke, Ruth sat, tapping her fingers on the table, wishing she'd thought to get a coffee before she came in, she could barely stay awake, what with leaving The Grid at gone 11 last night, listening to Danny's escapades with Lightwood's friend, and then early morning call she had received from Harry at half past 5 this morning, letting her know she would be needed for the 7am briefing.

"Yes." Harry spoke. "Ruth, you look into this woman. Let's put an obbo on the hotel."

Ruth snapped out of her reverie in time to nod at Harry in acknowledgement.

"Squeeze the lemon, good people, and the pips will come." With that, Harry left the room. Ruth smiled to herself grimly, realising that this would be a very long day to cope with, on very little sleep.

* * *

Tom's return from bugging the hotel with Colin and Malcolm was signalled by the swishing of the pods. At this, Ruth looked up from the files she was studying. "Tom! It was Russian!"

"What?" He turned to find Ruth waving a picture of a man on a crucifix at him. "The way they crucified him - Lightwood." Ruth stopped herself, she was sure Tom knew who she was talking about, after all, it wasn't every day that you found your suspect in a case crucified on Hampstead Heath.

"The way they crucified him. Look. Here's a sixteenth century, Russian ikon. See? Arms straight, feet not crossed. A Russian did this." Ruth pointed her pen at the picture as she spoke. Ruth had really enjoyed researching the crucifixion, as morbid as that sounded. She had been going back through hundreds of years' worth of artist's collections of crucifixion, and she was delighted to find that her instincts were correct and that it hadn't been for nothing.

"Russia."

"It's right in the tradition of the Russian mafia." She and Tom exchanged a glance, Ruth almost bursting with pride at her discovery, Tom with a worried look now etched on his features.

* * *

As Amanda Roke strutted onto The Grid, making directly for Harry's office Ruth went pale. She stood up, intending to head to the kitchen. Not fast enough though, she could hear Amanda shouting at Harry about a mole in the bank. _Shit. Oh God, now Tom's going in too._

Ruth watched as Tom went to see Colin, directly from Harry's office. Oh jeez.

Ruth is on edge for the rest of the day, waiting to be called into the office. Thankfully, by the time she is ready to head home, nothing has changed, so she feels able to breathe again.

* * *

The next morning, Ruth appears on The Grid bright and early at 8am. She waves across The Grid as she makes her way to her desk. "Morning Tom!"

Tom walks slowly over to Ruth who smiles at him distractedly, before grimacing as she caught his unkempt appearance. "Oooh! You look terrible, what have you been doing to yourself?"

Tom leans right in, regardless of Ruth's personal space and speaks into her ear, his voice low and threatening.

"I'm going to be in Parliament Gardens in five minutes time. Join me."

Ruth's face, which had been frozen as Tom spoke, crumples and she turns to look at Tom, aghast. He holds her gaze until Ruth finds she can stay there no longer. She almost runs on her way to the pods, stopping just long enough to grab her coat from the cloakroom, hoping that Tom will accept her leaving The Grid first.

* * *

Ruth sits on a bench overlooking the Houses of Parliament, a few minutes later, waiting for Tom. She was torn up inside, and had been hoping that this day wouldn't come. She had a fair idea of what this was about, and was horrified that the team would find out about her goings on, behind their backs.

As Tom approached the bench and sat down, he left enough space for another person between himself and Ruth. Enough that to an untrained eye, their meeting would look like two strangers resting a moment on the same bench, nothing more.

There was silence. Neither spoke; waiting for the other to begin. Eventually, Ruth couldn't handle not knowing what Tom was thinking. "I suppose you have evidence." It was a statement, not a question.

"Computer traffic from your station, yes."

"I coded it good."

"Colin uncoded it good. You betrayed us." At that, Ruth looked down. She couldn't take the disappointment in Tom's voice.

"MI5 is a Government Department. I only told Downing Street what you were doing. The Government can't betray itself to itself, can it?"

"Don't be naïve, Ruth. You know exactly what's going on here. GCHQ planted you on us."

To Ruth, in her mind, what she had told Tom had been a reasonable justification for her actions. But just then, speaking it out loud, it sounded just as Tom had called it. Naïve and stupid. And yet..

"Tom, I so much wanted to join MI5. To be a real spy." Ruth glances at Tom out of the corner of her eye. He was looking straight ahead, keeping up the pretence of two strangers and a chance meeting. "They said I could have the transfer if, very occasionally, I reported what you were doing. I mean this is the first time I've done it." Ruth gazed upwards, cursing herself inwardly. _How typically _Ruth_ of me. _Be a real spy for once, and get caught, almost in the act.

"Reported directly to Amanda Roke?" Ruth doesn't reply for a moment. There's no need, Tom knows exactly what's happened. Instead, she just nods.

"The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have their own fiefdoms. She goes between the two of them. In a way she's the most powerful person in Government."

"Well now you're a classic double agent." For the first time in their conversation, Tom looks at Ruth. "How does 'real spying' feel?"

Ruth, looks down, a self-deprecating smile on her face as she answers. "The horrible thing is, it's rather exciting."

Tom turns to her, judgment written all over his features.

"Ruth I've got two officers in the field at high risk. Do you want to get Danny or Zoe crucified on Hampstead Heath?"

Ruth closes her eyes in horror at the thought. "Don't."

Tom turns away, satisfied that Ruth now understands the seriousness of her actions.

"I'll have to tell Harry."

"What will he do?" Ruth's horror is increased, if possible, that Harry, of all people will have to be told. _What did you expect Evershed? He's boss-spook. Of course he will be told. Did you think it would be kept, quietly between you and Tom? Idiot._

"He'll probably send you to Narnia."

Ruth's face creased in confusion for a moment. "What's Narnia?"

Tom waits a beat before responding. "A collection of damp nisson huts in the Scottish Highlands. Full of alcoholics and busted officers shuffling outdated files."

Ruth speaks once more, with a hint of anger in her voice, anger directed at Amanda Roke, at her bosses at GCHQ, but mostly at herself.

"I'm so bloody good at this job. You know I am." Ruth looks down once more. "Well." She brushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear and waits before speaking again. "That's that then." She looks straight ahead, preparing for the words to fall from Tom's lips. Preparing for the journey back to Thames House, where she will either be decommissioned from working in any Government department, or sent back to GCHQ. She can't quite decide which option she would hate the most.

In her silent recriminations, Ruth misses Tom's glance towards her, a thoughtful look on his face. "Of course, double agents can be turned."

Their eyes meet. Ruth is still processing what she's been told. "Oh, Tom."

He leans towards her. "You're on probation."

Ruth shuts her eyes and looks down. "Oh, thank you."

It's too late; Tom has walked away. She watches his retreating back, so grateful to him for being so lenient with her. She takes a few, deep breaths before standing up and walking in the opposite direction, giving herself a chance to gather her thoughts before returning to Thames House. _I won't let you down, Tom. Not again._

* * *

All the awkwardness between herself and Tom, which only Ruth seems to feel, has vanished by the next day, which Ruth is grateful for, when she finds a lead which she needs to let Tom know about. After the previous day, Ruth feels wholly comfortable stopping him as he crosses The Grid." Tom. Something wonderful." She approaches him, a bunch of papers in her hands, the uppermost of which she shows him.

"Death certificate. Maxine Anne Baxter died in Victoria Gardens, Farnham, Surrey, 31st March 1979 aged three months."

Tom breathes out. This could be it. Once again Ruth has come through for the team. Maybe he was right in his instinct to keep her on. Ruth hands him another pieve of paper.

"Birth certificate. Maxine Anne Baxter born Victoria Gardens, Farnham Surrey, 31st December 1978. This birth certificate used to get a minor's British Passport in 1990."

"My God."

"The oldest tricks fool the wisest heads."

"What about schools, on her CV from the bank..."

Ruth nods, checking her papers. "Enrolled at, err, Salehill Boarding School, aged thirteen. Good place for the oddball girl, wildly liberal sort of Rodean for girls on speed. And, before that the school she was meant to have gone to - Farnham Park - has no record of her. And there are no records at all - doctors, anything - before 1990."

"So she suddenly appeared in London with a complete legend made for her?"

Ruth looks at Tom, nodding slightly. "It's a puzzle, isn't it."

Tom looks down at the documents she had handed to him and blows out a breath. "Ruth. Great work."

"Oh Tom. I'm _so_ glad you think so." Ruth smiles softly at him, satisfied that she has at least started to make up for her lapse in judgement.

Tom stands. "Come with me." Ruth follows wordlessly, still holding her files.

As Tom knocks on Harry's office door, Ruth feels a tiny flicker of fear, deep in her stomach that, after all, Tom is going to tell Harry exactly what she did. Thankfully she is proven wrong as he simply explains to Harry that Ruth has found something.

"You've proving to be quite the asset to this team, Ruth." Harry looks at her with approval, before accepting the proffered documents.

Ruth's gaze swaps between Harry and Tom as they lay out a plan to catch 'Maxine Baxter', feeling a sense of acceptance from the two of them that she hadn't quite felt before she was caught, even if Harry is still unaware that it was her doing that had outed them to Downing Street.

* * *

Amanda Roke is debriefing the team as they are gathered in the meeting room. Ruth is worried that Amanda will do, or say something which will give her away, but she realised she needn't have worried, as Amanda thinks that she is still passing correct information to them, and wouldn't jeopardise the position of her 'mole'.

"The Chancellor of the Exchequer too has asked me to thank you. It was a highly satisfactory outcome. Many thanks." Amanda turns to Danny. "I do hope your hearing's better."

Ruth watches as Danny glances up, a blank look on his face. "Sorry, what?"

A moment passes before Danny grins. "Sorry."

Ruth looks fondly across the table, looking away quickly as Danny catches her eye, so as not to laugh. She notices Zoe having the same trouble.

"Well, I shall leave you to your internal debrief."

She turns to face Harry. "Certainly." He replies. As she leaves, he turns to his team, gathered around the table.

"After the excitement the paper work. Written statements all round then Tom and I will do the personal debriefings." All heads turn to Tom as he excuses himself and follows Amanda Roke from the room.

Ruth smiles at his retreating back, glad that, in spite of her faux pas, the operation was still a success, with nothing lost. Aside from Danny's hearing, that is.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it :) please review if you've got time.**

**I realised that I told someone in a review that I would try to update every other day. Since then I realised that that is _so_ not gonna happen. Maybe once a week - it's a bit more likely somehow!**

**~LouBelle04**~


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**I'd recommend going to the loo now, if you like reading chapters all in one go.. This is a bit of a long one!**

* * *

**2.5**

Ruth sat, talking out loud to herself as she typed up her latest assessment of the threat levels. "At dawn today, armed special forces raided a warehouse in King's Cross. Information had been received anonymously that a terrorist group was using the warehouse as a bomb factory. Armed forces secured the building and found it to be unoccupied. There was, however, evidence of an attack being planned. There were detailed maps of the Whitehall Government buildings with CCTC camera positions marked and dead spots calculated. The group's political orientation is unknown. Level of threat, flagged as blue: A/A."

She quickly saved the document, before moving onto the next issue.

"There have been reports from local people of firing heard on an abandoned British army range in a remote area of the Brecon Beacons. Surveillance revealed basic military training to be in progress. Those involved have been identified as being members of a militant animal rights group. Electronic surveillance has revealed their intended target to be a medical research laboratory in Bristol. Level of threat, blue: A/B."

Ruth took a quick swig of the rapidly cooling tea next to her before moving on.

"A van holding several drums has been parked in an East End car park for the last 24 hours. It belongs to a group called 'Patmos.' Their ideology is survivalist. Awaiting intel on precise destination of van. Level of threat, blue: B/B."

"A suspect connected to the sale of sensitive nuclear information has been under close surveillance for three weeks. The interrogation of Christopher Jennings by MI-5 Special Information Unit is ongoing. Level of threat from Jenning's activities: red, A."

"Total number of listed threats: 27. This concludes the weekly report."

As Ruth leant back in her chair, she saved the document and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the completion of that particular job at the moment. She stared stonily into her computer screen, muttering "good morning, world."

She hit print on the two documents and headed into Harry's office, where she put one version of the file on his keyboard, for him to find later. Ruth went back to her desk via the kitchen, to retrieve yet another cup of tea. And it had only just passed 7am.

* * *

It's over an hour later before the rest of the team are assembled on The Grid. Tom makes his way over to Ruth, as she is looking at pictures of the men mentioned in the report.

"Have you got that weekly threat assessment for Downing Street. They like it nice and dumbed down, in pictures." She turns to him, smiling and handing the second, less detailed, picture-clad copy of the report to him. "Bike's waiting for it."

"Great."

Tom walks away, as Zoe enters through the pods. Her eyes follow the latter leaving the room after snapping at Tom. She catches Sam's eye, who nods and chases after Zoe.

Barely two minutes later, Ruth is knocked from her thoughts by an alarm, not dissimilar to the one she grew to hate in the midst of the Noah Gleeson/Peter Ellis debacle. Everyone jumps from their seats and gather in the middle of The Grid, startled.

Harry stands in the centre of the group, shouting, in his struggle to be heard over the din of the alarm.

"Can we all just pay attention; the major incident alarm has sounded."

As he speaks, Ruth spots Danny running up to the pods, knocking. Once the alarm has stopped, Harry continues. "As I was saying. The major incident alarm has sounded."

Tom taps Harry's arm, pointing out Danny before having a quick discussion, quietly. Ruth is almost certain that the two are discussing whether Danny, as a latecomer, should be allowed in. Ruth is also almost certain that Harry will relent, and let him in, but for a moment or two will hold out on Tom, for appearances sake.

Harry voice grows loud again. "…terrorist attack. How prepared are we? Bali, Kenya, the Moscow Theatre – at any minute it will happen here."

"All the more reason to have Danny on board." Tom counters.

Harry rolls his eyes before reminding Tom of his position as the EmEx officer in cases like this. In response, Tom calls Malcolm to allow Danny onto The Grid. The visitors on site draw Harry's attention, but Ruth can't quite hear what is being said, so turns to Colin, raising her eyebrows.

"Everyone. We all knew an EERIE exercise would be sprung on us at sometime this month. And EERIE is?"

Colin grins before answering. "Extreme Emergency Response Exercise."

"Good man. The first rule of EERIE is that all officers will respond to any situation thrown at them professionally. We treat this as real."

Ruth grins; excited for her first trial as a 'real' spy. She is still attempting to prove herself in the eyes of Tom, for her misdemeanours, and Harry, in the hope that he won't send her back to GCHQ at the end of her secondment. "Ooh, what fun."

Her grin falters slightly as both Sam and Colin turn to look at her, glumly, but she ignores them and smiles.

Harry continues, unimpeded by Ruth's interruption. "Tom is EmEx officer. Will somebody close that bloody thing!" Malcolm quickly goes to shut the pod doors, Danny's arrival through one of which has set off the alarm again. As Danny approaches for a chat with Colin about the mini-briefing he had missed, Ruth stands nervously next to them; her excitement beginning to wain as she clocks the worried looks on the faces of everyone around her.

Sam joins the conversation between Danny and Colin as Ruth turns away slightly, still able to hear them, but not so much that they should feel they have to invite her along to the expedition on Colin's barge, which Danny has just been recruited for.

Harry interrupts their chat, addressing the gathered team. "Can we get this thing moving? Tom is EmEx. That's Emergency Executive Officer. He will co-ordinate all our efforts. So.." He hands over to Tom, who takes over the briefing without missing a beat.

"This is how it works. Somewhere in the building an EERIE team will feed us information about an emergency. As it unfolds they will assess our response."

Zoe, still tearful, asks about their current work. Terrorists don't stop just because MI-5 are staging an exercise.

"We put everything aside til the exercise is over. Folks, we take this seriously. As far as we're concerned there is a major incident in progress. Now, remember what this service does..."

Colin once again, grinning finishes Tom's sentence. "We gather, identify and destroy." Danny turns to look at him in surprise, but Colin just grins back, pleased.

"Thank you, Colin. We gather what information we can about the threats to national security, we identify enemies of the state and then we send in the appropriate forces - police, special forces - and close them down. And that is exactly what we do in a National emergency of this kind. Now, Colin, Malcolm - you are the technical team."

Colin mutters to those around him. "Techies of the day."

Tom has already moved on with assignments, ignoring Colin.

"Zoe, monitor all radio broadcasts. Try and build a picture of what is happening. Yes?"

Zoe, is glaring at Tom, and when it becomes clear he expects an answer, she answers angrily. "Yes."

"Sam, Ruth: research team."

Ruth smiles at Sam. "Goody." Tom is playing to their strengths, and Ruth is pleased that he trusts her with this.

Tom turns to the last member of the core team. "Now Danny, I want you as a liaison officer for all the groups and my second in command. The rest of you, including our unwilling guests - sorry Mark, Bridget - muck in as required."

This is met by some disgruntled glances from Mark and Bridget, whilst Danny grins. "Rock 'n' roll."

As everyone walks away to begin their assigned tasks, Ruth and Zoe fall into step behind Bridget and Mark, unable to help overhearing their conversation.

"I suppose we go along with this?" Mark asks.

"But if it is a real emergency then we can't be stuck here." Both Ruth and Zoe give the two of them scathing looks as they walk away.

A few minutes later, Sam and Ruth approach those gathered around Danny's desk, where they have set up a live feed with the Thames House Duty Room. Ruth is surprisingly chirpy, in the face of the exercise. She enjoys research and knows that she is good at it. _I'm in my element here._

She begins to narrow down the possible types of the explosion, as those in the vicinity turn to look at her.

"Well if it had been a nuclear device we wouldn't be here. But it could be a dirty bomb, with radioactive material blown out over the city. People will get radiation poisoning in range of ooh, a mile? And then, for years, cancers, deformed children."

Zoe, who remains totally sceptical of the entire situation, chimes in. "And, err, we're to believe this has gone off in Parliament Square? Half a mile away?"

Ruth is unfazed. "Oh yes, latest intelligence is there are at least ten dirty bombs under construction, somewhere in London."

She is met with alarmed looks from Tom and Malcolm. She quickly explains. "It was in my briefing two weeks ago."

Tom seems to accept this and turns back to the woman in the Duty Room.

"Dot. What are the emergency services doing?"

"I don't know, there's a lot of confusion here." She pauses, staring at her screen. "Oh God."

"What?"

"C section and the Registry. I can't lock them down."

"Why not?"

"The system's not working."

Malcolm speaks for the first time. "The sins of Maintenance. Why is it that nothing in this country works?" He's irritated; already having had an encounter with both the faulty lift, and the three-quarter empty water cooler that morning.

"Dot, what about the others floors? Immigration, Section A and D?"

"I'm sorry, the locking switches won't work."

"Are you saying The Grid and the control room are the only areas locked down?"

"At the moment."

Ruth stood stock still behind Tom, almost frozen to the spot. _What does this mean, in terms of the EERIE?_

Zoe called across to them. "It's on Radio 4."

"Put it on the speakers now." Tom commanded.

"Dot, you must lock down the whole of the building."

As the voice of the radio presenter spoke to them, Ruth let his voice wash over her, taking in every detail, as did everyone else in the area. _Could it be..? No, surely this can't be real. It's a training exercise._

Ruth looked up briefly as Colin exited the room, but other than that she remained focused on the voice emanating from the speakers.

The radios man on the scene was now speaking. "Police are asking drivers to evacuate the area, that's happening and people are abandoning their cars and running past me up Whitehall."

At this, the presenter quizzed the reporter. "And this is because..?"

"Well, at this kind of incident there is the ever-present fear of another explosion..."

Ruth turned her eyes heavenward. "An explosion of what, stupid man."

Colin ran back into the room. "It's the Downing Street scrambler."

Tom moved into action following Colin out of the room, leaving Zoe to monitor the radio, and update him with any news. Sam, Danny and Ruth followed quickly, running into the meeting room as Tom made contact with Paul Dunbarton, his counterpart at Downing Street.

Ruth watched in silence with the others as the two EmEx officers made the necessary introductions, before getting down to business. Ruth raised her eyebrows at the news that 10 Downing Street had been evacuated to Turnstile. Her surprise was echoed by Tom, as Paul explained that they were following the new procedures put into place following the attack on the Twin Towers.

As Tom wound up the conversation with Paul, he turned to the assembled team.

"Sam."

"Yeah."

"In the contingencies filing cabinet. There are copies of something called the London Emergency Services Liaison Major Incident Procedure Manual. Can you distribute copies please?"

Sam answered in the affirmative, before asking; "What's Turnstile?"

"Oh let's slide along the learning curve." Harry's voice made Ruth jump slightly, before she turned towards the door, where Harry was stood.

Tom gave Sam a quick explanation. "Turnstile is an alternative seat of Government. It's under the Cotswold hills, in between Bath and Corsham. In an attack on the country the Cabinet and 250 officials and scientists would be moved there."

"Would you two go?" Sam queried.

Sam turned to Harry once more as he spoke. "Only the Director General is on the list. The rest of us'll have to make do."

As Tom made his way from the room, Sam looked to Danny. "What if the rest of us die and they've got no country to run?"

"I don't know, running a country with no people sounds like a politician's dream." He grins at Sam before they both turn to follow Tom out of the room.

Tom called from ahead of them. "Danny - get the big maps set up."

Harry remained in the meeting room, watching Ruth's retreating back as she made to return to her desk.

* * *

Ruth helped Colin to unpack the Emergency Protective Clothing Units. He handed her a box full of gasmasks, which she distributed amongst the team, before looking warily at the suits themselves. Ruth wasn't sure what they would protect from. _Probably not even a child with a water pistol._ But she dutifully, if reluctantly pulled one on over her clothes anyhow.

As everyone but Zoe and Sam were fully ensconced in their suits, Tom walked past Ruth towards Malcolm, who was stood by a desk, raging at the inadequacy of the suits. He turned pleadingly to Tom. "Sorry but if we're going to take this seriously... "

Ruth stood behind Zoe, as Tom waited a few beats, debating with himself. Eventually he spoke. "All right! Forget it. Take them off. Take them off!"

Ruth unzipped her suit grateful, earning an amused look from Zoe. She smiled back tentatively, hoping that whatever had been chewing at Zoe all morning was beginning to pass.

Zoe suddenly turned serious. "Radio 4's gone off air."

Ruth leant in behind her, still fiddling with her suit. "Submarine warning."

Tom, who was stood near Zoe's desk, talking with Danny chimed in. "What did you say, Ruth?"

She walked over to them messily, the suit not helping to alleviate her innate clumsiness in any way. "It's a thing GCHQ set up, for nuclear submarines at sea. If the country's under serious threat of attack, the Today programme will go off air."

Danny grinned, "I don't think it's that."

As Tom was called over to Colin in an attempt to stop Dot pulling out their communications cords, Colin asked the horrible question that Ruth had been thinking earlier, but that nobody had voiced thus far. "What if this isn't a drill?"

Ruth thought quickly. "The telly."

She made her way over to the television set swiftly, turning it on in time to see live footage, showing chaos abound. White snow began to fall over the footage, a network fault.

"Try BBC" called Colin. He and the team had remained in place, but were watching Ruth warily. She flicked channels, but to no avail. Each one showed white snow over any footage. The set had barely been on for ten seconds when the power to the entire Grid failed, leaving them on emergency lighting, a dull red flashing. Ruth fiddled with the remote nervously, looking up at Tom, who was focused elsewhere on The Grid.

* * *

An hour or so later, in which nobody had managed to find out anything else about their situation, Danny shouted across The Grid. "Tom, we've got something."

Ruth and the others made their way across to the Forgery Suite, where a pixelated image was on Danny's screen. Ruth peered over Tom and Danny's shoulders, listening.

As Zoe explained what they knew about the mobile incident control room, the man on screen held up two pieces of paper. 'P. Square' one read. 'VX' said the other. Danny's voice was full of dread as he spoke, almost pleadingly. "VX. Not the gas…"

"Dear God." Ruth paled.

The connection was lost as Ruth ran to her station to prepare everything they had on VX gas and the trouble it could cause. Harry's eyes watched her go, silently.

* * *

As Ruth paced the meeting room, power was returned to The Grid, much to their pleasure. Ruth's face, however, was still etched with the knowledge of what VX gas could do.

She spoke, nervously, horrified.

"VX.." Ruth looked down at her feet, taking a moment to gather herself. She took a deep breath, her eyes slightly bright as she fought for composure. "Sorry..." She took another breath.

Harry's voice, soft, interrupted. "It's alright, Ruth."

"Silly me, it's just the thought…" her voice trailed off. Thankfully Harry asked Sam to continue the briefing.

Ruth tuned out of Sam's explanation of VX, looking anywhere but the team, anywhere but Harry. She was sure they understood. Or they would do, once Sam had finished her explanation. As Ruth looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact, she felt someone's eyes burning into her. She looked across from her sharply, to see Harry's gaze focused on her. He looked at her, his eyes intense, questioning. A slight tilt of the head. _Okay?_ He seemed to ask. A tiny nod in return. _Yes._

Ruth's only input to the briefing thereafter was to clarify the meaning of just how bad a grade double A effective weapon was. "That means devastating." She said, her voice shaky, but strong.

As Sam finished speaking, Malcolm commented. "One sweet weapon." At the looks of slight disbelief he received from the others, he clarified quickly. "I was thinking technically."

Tom spoke up. "Right. So now we know it's VX gas, what we need to try and do is seal The Grid as best we can."

As Colin mentioned the water tanks on the roof and how they supplied the water to the toilets, Ruth noticed a strange look pass across Harry's face; a slight widening of his eyes, and a minute crease of the forehead. They lasted for only a second, but she saw it. She had no idea what that look meant, but it couldn't be anything good, not in the circumstances.

* * *

The team gathered once more in the Forgery Suite, where Tom was trying to communicate with somebody in the mobile incident control room.

After a brief, but awful conversation with Stephanie - the woman in the suit – Tom asked her to investigate the van which had exploded. Situated as she was, near Parliament Square, Stephanie was the only person who could possibly find out the information for them. Ruth was vaguely aware that there was something wrong with what Tom was asking Stephanie to do, but it wasn't a tangible thought until Colin spoke. "You've just asked someone to go to their death." Colin sounded both horrified and shocked. Ruth was right there with him on that, although she realised that it was the only way to find out more. But still, she didn't have to like it.

Ruth and Zoe followed Tom from the room. "Can the data base help us at all with this gas?" he asked.

"Not really, it's available all over the place, there are a lot of old Soviet stocks on the market." As the lights went off, completely this time. Ruth muttered "Oh God." Only loud enough for herself and Tom to hear, unlike Malcolm, who's dismay could be heard all over The Grid.

"There are more handlamps." He shouted as he passed Ruth.

Suddenly Colin shouted. "She's back!"

The team ran back to the room they had just vacated.

"Did you see the vehicle that exploded?" Tom spoke urgently, calmly.

Stephanie was clearly shaken by what she had seen; dead bodies lying in the street. "It was, erm. White, I think. The top and one side was blown out. But it had a sign on the side. Planets. And it said 'Pluto Removals.'"

"Oh heaven." Ruth's stomach sank into her feet. In her mind's eye she recalled the surveillance footage she had studied to make her weekly report that morning. _Was it really that short a time ago?_ Ruth exited the room and made her way back to her desk. The others watched her go, faces etched with worry.

As everyone made their way to Ruth's desk, she stood, nervously chewing a pen. "It was in the loony file. And it showed up on the weekly A routine Special Branch trawl of websites. We mentioned it in the weekly report, just to keep the numbers up. But then it struck me. Do you see?"

"Do I see what?" Tom spoke softly.

"The Group signed itself Patmos. The Greek Island where St. John wrote Revelation. The book of the end of the world." Ruth's eyes glanced at each of those gathered around her, registering the looks of surprise and panic on their faces.

"What threat did the group make?"

"To bomb ten British cities." She focused on the map on her computer screen. Tom followed her gaze as she spoke. "London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bath, Coventry, Manchester, Newcastle. It's the usual.. survivalist fantasy. Destroy the cities, the pure in heart will survive in the hills."

"Did they mention gas?"

Ruth smiled, mockingly. "Oh yes." She passed a wad of files to Tom. "Here's the text."

"'The British Whore's Last Breath.'" Tom read from the top sheet.

Zoe turned her eyes to Ruth, shocked, and spoke quietly, incredulously. "It's real, isn't it? After all the warnings of.. of an attack on Britain, It's happened. We knew it was coming. The government knew it was coming. Small pox injections, regional disaster centres being set up."

Danny interrupted her, angrily. "And all too bloody late." The vehemence of his tone made Sam wince.

Zoe spoke, her voice barely more than a whisper. "But the moment it happened... I didn't believe it."

As Colin showed everyone the feed he was receiving from the traffic cameras, the conversation took a dangerous turn.

"Let us at least try to reach our families." Someone said, Ruth couldn't think of her name, just now.

"Maybe it doesn't matter. We may as well just walk out. Get home somehow before the VX affects us." Ruth's expression was a mix of anguish at their possible and evermore likely deaths from the gas, and a flash of pride at being able to say what no-one else would say, even if they were all thinking it. She was sure they were.

"I mean.. we should be with our loved ones. Even if we've.." Ruth look down, unsure whether to go on. "Even if we've only got a cat." She smiled at Tom, a self-deprecating, half ashamed smile.

_If the only thing outside of this place I have to go home to is a cat.. God, is that a waste of a life? Maybe not. Until today, I've been happy. Why should near-certain death change that?_

Tom cut into her thoughts, his voice sharp, demanding. "No. We don't discuss this again." He walked away from them, slowly, determined.

At his command, Danny made his way to Tom's side, taking Ruth with him, the rest of the group following reluctantly. "Comments? Ruth?"

"Well we know the security risk to the country and it couldn't be worse."

"And we know who did it." Danny added.

"Yeah, but how do we get them?" Zoe sounded on the verge of panic, which Ruth noticed didn't help Sam, one bit.

"Yeah, we're just stuck here imagining." Sam was near tears, the same note of panic in her voice as in Zoe's.

As Malcolm explained where they were with their communication systems, Danny suggested that he go down to the control room.

Tom vetoed the idea straight away, but not before Harry heard, once again appearing silently and making Ruth jump. _He's making a habit of this_. As quickly as he'd arrived, Harry walked away.

Danny turned to Ruth, frustrated. "What is the matter with Harry?"

"What do you mean?" Ruth's voice was low, unsure.

"He's so distant."

Bridget, who has been relatively quiet for most of the day pipes up. "We need to move to a new location, an ops room that works."

Danny is scathing of her suggestion. "And how would we do that?"

"Wait. Another hour? Then take a chance the gas has dispersed."

Tom turned away. "Ruth?"

She answered, hating to be the bringer of bad news. "That would be too dangerous."

"Right. We all keep working. First thing - brief Paul Dunbarton." Tom headed in the direction of the meeting room, where a communication link with Paul was still active.

Now that Ruth had had her moments of pure fear and panic, both in the meeting room where she had failed to explain the effects of VX, and earlier, where she had suggested they leave The Grid and go home, she felt a lot better. If they were all going to die anyway, they might as well go down fighting, she thought. From that moment on, Ruth vowed to help Tom, in any way possible to unpick the mess of a situation they found themselves in. She would not break, both Sam and Zoe were on the verge of that. _Someone has to stay strong._

* * *

Danny used both hands to support himself on the chair as the team listened to Paul Dunbarton explain to them all that as far as they could tell, the Prime Minister and those with him on their way to Turnstile had fallen victim to the gas, as had the Royal family. Ruth stared straight ahead, at the screen. Stay strong, she reminded herself.

The team were left hanging, agape, as Paul terminated the link between the two screens. As Tom went to leave the room, Mark and Bridget began to kick off. Thankfully, after some cajoling from Danny, they went about their task of gathering as much food and drink as possible.

Tom stands with Danny, Ruth and Malcolm by the map of London and its surrounding areas that Danny had set up earlier, when they still believed that this was just an exercise.

"So. We are half a mile from the point of explosion." Tom begins.

"Ground zero." Malcolm's comment earns a sharp intake of breath from Ruth, and expressionless stares from Tom and Danny. Tom let that particular phrase sink in before continuing.

"Has this gas been used before?"

As usual, it is Ruth who can answer. "No. Except for the Sarin on the Tokyo subway but Sarin's a much, much weaker member of the same family."

"And if it has reached us here at Thames House, how wide is it spreading?"

"Well, the footprint would.. umm." Ruth turns to the map and picks up a marker pen. She is indecisive with the pen, waving it around the map, before she even thinks about drawing. "We are here. So if we project at least another... quarter of a mile beyond us?"

"The wind's from the northwest today. I always listen to the forecast." Ruth nods at Malcolm, who offers an explanation. "For the garden."

"So.. At a conservative estimate." Ruth finally puts her pen to the map, and the circle she draws causes Danny to exclaim. "Oh hell."

"It could be much bigger. A VX cannister of say ten kilograms in a liquid state under pressure, exploded properly so it converts to a gas state." Ruth pauses, seemingly unable to get the words out. She takes a quick breath. _Stay strong._ She reminds herself again. "Would be as effective as the Atom bomb on Hiroshima."

Tom is unfazed, instead asking how many casualties this would cause.

"Oh I'd have thought during this first hour... nigh on a million have been infected."

"A million." Tom repeats her words.

"How far could the wind blow it?" Danny asks.

"By the end of the day..." Ruth does some quick maths in her head before finishing her sentence. "Three quarters of the South East of England?"

* * *

As Tom shouts her name, Ruth answers with a quick "yes" before realising he's also talking to Zoe and Danny. At he speaks to them, he is ripping a document into three. "Speed read this. I want to know chains of command when Turnstile fails. Fast as you can."

Ruth sits at her desk and begins the first part of the JIGSAW file.

As Ruth nears the end of her section, she notices Tom repeatedly checking his phone. "She'll be somewhere safe. I mean whoever it is... will be."

Tom doesn't reply, but instead nods at Danny, as he motions towards Sam. Danny makes his way over to her, but Ruth can only hear the murmur of voices. Hopefully, with Danny talking to her, Sam will be okay.

As Ruth drops her part of the JIGSAW file onto her desk in distress, Danny re-joins her, Zoe and Tom.

"So! Who, at this moment is running the country?" Tom asks. When he receives no reply he prompts them. "Hmm?"

Zoe is the first to answer. "No-one."

"It's a mess." Danny adds.

Ruth clarifies their findings for Tom's benefit. "There are meant to be regional Government Disaster Centres but they're still in the planning stage. If Turnstile's not working, there doesn't seem to be any obvious chain of command."

Zoe holds up her part of the booklet. "This is just a chaos of diagrams. There's even one for moving the PM's car during a nuclear attack. But if Turnstile isn't working…" Zoe trails off as Ruth takes up the explanation.

"It's the headless chicken scenario. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have always feared it - no one at the top to give orders."

Tom looks at Ruth in frustration. "Well, have you found out how to declare martial law?"

"Yeah. Er.." Before Danny can begin, a shout comes from the Forgery Suite, where Malcolm is calling Tom to tell him they've managed to make contact with one of the other capital cities of the United Kingdom.

As Tom and Danny rush off, Zoe and Ruth exchange a glance, before returning to skim the document before them, just in case there's something they missed.

* * *

The entire team are gathered, once more in the centre of The Grid.

"We don't have long. Edinburgh could be attacked at any moment. But I want you all to agree on this." Tom begins the discussion.

"If it's a choice between anarchy or death I'll choose anarchy." Danny is all for going against the Scottish EmEx and ordering them to evacuate their capital city, regardless of a clear chain of command.

Mark shakes his head in disbelief. "A secret service declaring a state of emergency? That's treason."

Malcolm returns the scathing look. "If the Royal Family's dead, who's the treason against?"

Danny turns to Tom. "My Mum's in Edinburgh. Do it."

Now Bridget chimes in. "I thought we weren't allowed to let personal life influence decisions."

Sam turns to her and argues back. "What matters is that people believe us, on the streets. When the orders are given."

Ruth nods in Sam's direction. "Yeah, Sam. Spot on."

Tom pauses. "So, are we for this?"

Mark and Bridget answer first. "Absolutely not."

"You're fiddling while Rome burns!"

Ruth sighs, dejectedly. She can't believe how short-sighted these two outsiders are being. _I suppose our view on this is a product of saving the world every few days. They don't have that sense._

Mark's next words bring her sharply back to the conversation. "Yeah, the Emperor Nero? Your EmEx is in the grip of some kind of power fantasy."

Straight away, Danny refutes Mark's statement.

"Dumb stupid loyalty is not what is needed here, Danny."

"Loyalty is what'll get us through this."

"No it's clear thinking, and trying to take over the Government ain't clear thought!"

In the silence after Mark speaks, Tom turns to Ruth, who has yet to offer an opinion on the matter. "Well, what do you say?" Tom seems unsure as to whether Ruth will support him and the team, or side with Mark and Bridget.

"I say fiddle on." Mark turns to glare at Ruth, who meets his gaze steadily, before turning her eyes back to Tom. "What else is there to do?"

No-one else seems to want to dispute Ruth's words, so Tom announces that they will declare a state of emergency. As he walks away, Mark once more fixes Ruth with a glare. She rolls her eyes and looks away.

* * *

As Tom is telling the Scottish EmEx to evacuate Edinburgh, Ruth realises that she hasn't seen Harry in ages. As she glances up to his office, she notices the blinds flicker, and then push against the window, as if someone has fallen against them. Ruth stands quickly and heads over to the office. She doesn't bother knocking, and opens the door to find Harry leaning against the shut blinds, one hand holding himself to the wall, unsteadily.

Ruth immediately makes her way over to him. "Harry?"

He doesn't answer. She tried again. Shaking his shoulder, lightly. "Harry."

He lifts his eyes to her face, not quite able to meet her eyes.

"Oh my God. Harry, lean on me, you need to sit down." Ruth grabs his arm and pulls it around her shoulder, before placing one hand gently at his waist, her arm around his back anchoring him to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruth can see his mouth moving, but Harry doesn't make a sound. He doesn't lean as heavily on her as she'd expected he would need to, although by the time they reach the sofa, only a few feet away, he almost collapses onto it, taking Ruth with him. Thankfully she is able to keep them both upright. In the time Ruth has been in his office, Harry still hasn't uttered a word. Ruth pulls away from him on the sofa, grabbing a tissue from his desk. She sits back on the seat next to Harry, softly wiping his brow with it. He grabs one of her hands, and she is struck by the urgency with which he gripping her, and the clamminess of his skin.

She spots a small glass of water on the side, but is unsure how long it has been there, and doesn't dare risk giving Harry something to drink which may, by any small possibility be infected with VX. Although, she thinks, if it's been here in the office with him, she realises that he is probably infected anyway.

"I'm going to get Tom." She whispers the words to Harry as she untangles their hands. He lets her go wordlessly.

Ruth shuts the door behind her as she leaves his office, not wanting anyone else to see Harry in such a state. She takes a second to gather herself, before stepping out onto The Grid. "Tom."

He turns towards her immediately, and something in her stance screams urgency at him, so he runs towards her.

Without preamble, they walk into Harry's office; Ruth, once again closing the door behind her.

As she pulls it to, she hears Harry's voice. His usually velvety tones now rough with exertion. She is surprised that in the minute since she left him he has begun to recite a passage from the Bible.

She hovers near the door, behind Tom, more worried now that he has begun to speak, then when he was leaning on her for support.

Her eyes are transfixed by Harry as he wipes his brow over and over, his forehead creasing in pain as he takes deep, shuddering breaths. Tom takes in the sight before him and turns to Ruth.

"Go back to your station and stay there." Ruth looks uncertainly between Tom and Harry, hesitating slightly until Tom repeats the order. "Go."

She leaves, quickly.

She takes the back route to her desk, unwilling to let the others see her so shaken up. She can't even imagine what it would do to morale if anyone found out about Harry.

As Tom emerges from Harry's office, Ruth looks up, shakily meeting his eyes in dismay. Thankfully, none of the others notice her distress. She follows Tom without a word and he leads her into a deserted corner.

"So it's in here."

"Yeah."

"Shall we tell?" Ruth glances up suddenly to meet his eyes.

"No."

"You mean we just leave Harry."

"What else can we do?"

"It's a terrible decision, Mr Tom Quinn."

"Is it, Ruth?" He leans closer to her, his voice almost a whisper. "I can't tell anymore." He looks out across The Grid, before turning back to Ruth, bending down to be on eye level with her. His voice lowers even more, now closer to a sigh. "They look at you. Their eyes are either full of dumb hate or dumb trust. What am I going to do, Ruth?"

"What are you saying, on the head of the King, let all the sorrows lie?"

Ruth can almost see Tom breaking right in front of her eyes.

"I'm meant to be EmEx officer and I don't know what to do." He pulls away slightly before leaning in, suddenly aggressive, or frustrated. Ruth can't tell which. "I don't."

Tom begins to walk away, but Ruth is suddenly angry.

"Oh no, you don't suddenly go all moody and sensitive. That's for us, we're the troops. You're the leader and leaders don't have feelings, as you well know." She stares at him, hoping against all hope that her words have had some effect.

"If that's trying to comfort me, it's a strange way of doing it."

As they hear his name called across The Grid, Tom brushes passed Ruth, who remains in place, letting her anger drain away before she returns to the battle.

* * *

It's now 24 hours since Ruth completed her reports, before everything fell apart. Everyone is flagging, no-one has been able to sleep for fear of missing something important.

Ruth approaches Tom. "Eight hours since we heard anything at all. Saturday morning - I should be shopping." Tom says nothing as Ruth fiddles with her necklace. She leanrs towards him and lowers her voice. "What about Harry?"

Tom looks down at her. "We leave him alone."

"If he's, I mean... shouldn't we give him some water or something?"

"We daren't break his quarantine."

Ruth nods, he's right, of course. "No."

Ruth turns to face the map of the disaster area, hiding from the rest of the team, just for a moment. The circle which she had originally drawn on the map have now become bigger and are teardrop shaped, each covering a larger area that the one before, in concordance with what the team have learnt, and with Ruth's calculations.

Ruth's attention is drawn by Danny knocking on the ceiling with a broom handle from atop of a desk.

Sam looks utterly confused and almost broken, so she goes over to her.

"What's he signalling?"

"'Anyone for tea?' Didn't you do Morse code in your training?"

"No."

"The old skills die out."

"What's the point in an electronic age?"

Ruth looks around them, surveying the carnage. "What electronics? They've all failed us."

Sam is put out by this, and turns from Ruth, instead heading to sit in front of a wall, the very image of despair. As soon as Danny notices this, he drops his broom and goes to sit by her. Ruth can't help but smile softly at them, in spite of the entire, horrible situation.

As Ruth returns to her study of the map, Mark and Bridget turn to Tom, confrontation seeping from every pore. They demand to speak to Harry, and Tom makes a snap decision.

"Harry is sick." There is silence. Tom lets the information sink in before continuing. "He has the VX symptoms."

Zoe is the first to recover. "You.. you mean. He's in there now… Dying?" Tom nods.

Danny is horrified and Sam manages to speak. "Can't we help him, do something -"

She is interrupted by Bridget who almost shouts over her. "How contagious is it?"

Ruth is furious by this point. "If you really want to know, it takes a few molecules, straight through the skin." She stands glaring icily at Bridget, until Malcolm breaks the unnatural hush that has fallen.

"Look, I saw Harry go to the loo."

Mark's eyes light up as he spies another chance to undermine Tom. "Err, yeah, it may not be that. The, uh, _breach_ could be Tom's fault."

This time it was Colin who rushed to his defence. "And how'd you work that out?"

"He let Danny in through the pods. He could be contaminated."

"You what?" Danny is struck by the thought.

_It couldn't be Danny's fault, could it? No, he'd have known if a bomb had gone off on his way into work. We'd have known about this a lot sooner if it were Danny's fault._

Unfortunately, Colin doesn't share Ruth's thinking. "Yeah, Tom and Malcolm forced the pod open after the alarm sounded. Cause you were so bloody typically late! Now we're all gonna get it cause big- shot high flyer Danny couldn't get to work on time!"

Danny hits out and pushes Colin away from him. "Alright little man."

Colin pushes back, and before Ruth can process what is happening, the two are being pulled apart by Tom.

Ruth is frozen as Tom forces the two men to apologise to each other. The do, grudgingly.

As Mark begins to fight for his idea that they leave Thames House and make their way to Ashford, where there is a safe house, Ruth walks over to the group. "Ashford's south, with the westerly wind, there is no way it will escape the gas footprint."

Tom meets Ruth's eyes, relieved to have someone on his side, who will fight with him. "Yes, we stay here, as a control centre."

Tom tells the group that Malcolm and Colin have a plan for a communications device, but Ruth is almost sure that he is lying to them. There is something about the forcefulness with which Malcolm answers which doesn't sit right with her. Although, if it helps keep the morale high, Ruth is sure that it is a good idea. Thankfully, her words from earlier seem to have made an impact with Tom, and he is no longer sitting on the edge of a fence, but is not stood tall, and sounds confident, as a leader must be in times of crisis.

Ruth and Sam try their best to pull at wires and find a link to the outside world, but neither has any clue what they are doing. They copy Danny and Malcolm, as they wrap small cables around bigger cables and yank bits down from the ceiling. Sam goes to find a screwdriver, or tweezers – anything to break through the coating on the wires as Tom makes the rounds.

"Hey Ruth."

"It's pointless. I'm an analyst. But there's nothing to analyse. Just scissors to stab in the wall." She holds out said scissors and waves them around slightly as she follows Tom.

"When the power comes back on you'll be the most important person in this room."

Ruth sighs. "You know, I never realised. I'm just my job. Nothing else. Without it I go completely to pieces."

Tom glances at her sharply. When he speaks, his voice is soft, comforting. "No, no, Ruth, you're much more important than that."

She interrupts him. "No, no. I'm happy with that. I just…"

As Tom looks at her, stood there dejectedly, waving around the scissors with which she had been stabbing at the wall, he speaks once more. "You are not your job, Ruth. I needed you yesterday, and you came through. You verbally slapped me back onto form. That is what I needed from you. You don't fall to pieces at all."

Ruth glances up at him, scissors in hand and smiles. She nods gently, and Tom sees her pull herself together before his eyes. Within seconds, he is faced with the woman he knows, and she waves the scissors at him before returns to attacking the nearest wall with gumption.

As Ruth gets back to work at the wall, she spots Mark and Bridget donning the ridiculous orange Emergency suits they all removed earlier. She follows them as they make their way to the main section of The Grid. As they make their way through, everyone else starts to notice, and everyone walks towards the pods; evidently Mark and Bridget's destination.

Tom confronts them. "What _are_ you doing?"

"We're going to the Ashford station."

"We all should." Bridget informs them.

"Those suits are useless." It is Malcolm's turn to chime in.

To no avail. "They may give us an edge out there." Replies Mark.

As Tom and Mark stand-off, nonverbally, Bridget addresses the others. "At least Ashford's got a full communications array. We can get a grip of the situation from there."

Malcolm glances at Tom. "They have a point."

Bridget glares at Tom. "We're going to Ashford."

Danny walks towards them, irritated. "I don't think you are." He stops in his tracks when Tom tells him to.

Mark turns, shouting. "KENT. Clean air."

Ruth speaks, quiet after Mark's shout. "Maybe not. We don't really know how far the footprint's spread."

Tom squares up to Mark. It's one thing for the outsiders to be against him, but when they start trying to turn his team to their way of thinking, he's had enough.

"Listen to me. The traffic out there is gonna be backed-up for miles. How you gonna reach Ashford? On foot? Walking on the ground, breathing the air that's contaminated?"

Mark hits back. "But the contamination is in here! Your boss is almost certainly dead now, behind that door."

There is a strangled sob from Sam, and Ruth notices that her eyes are filled with tears. Now isn't the time for comfort, she just hopes Sam will be able to cope for a little bit longer. She sense that one way or the other, this is the final argument between these two men.

"As long as we have healthy officers here, we stay. Now, Malcolm and Colin are working on a communications…"

Mark is almost apoplectic. "That's Mickey Mouse morale building and you know it!"

"Have we got to die in here?!" It's Bridget's voice that shouts over Mark this time.

"Yes." Tom states simply. "If that is our fate."

Ruth looks nervously between the two men as Mark once again steps closer to Tom. She can see Zoe edging nervously towards the feuding pair, hand straying to her belt every so often.

As Bridget makes to press the button to open the pods, Tom shouts once more. "Don't touch that."

Bridget does it anyway, and the pods begin to open, slowly. The team watch in horror as Tom grabs a gun from his waistband. "I'm ordering you to do your duty."

Zoe, shocked, follows suit, grabbing the gun from beneath her top.

A deathly silence follows, as Ruth looks from Tom, to Zoe, to Mark and Bridget, to Sam. Zoe is shaking whilst Tom is steady as a rock, both of their guns pointed at the two in orange suits.

"What you gonna do Tom? You gonna shoot a fellow officer? In Thames House?"

"If needs be, yes."

"I don't believe you."

"Zoe."

"Yeah." She whispers, shaking even more visibly now.

Tom takes a pair of handcuffs from his belt and hands them to Danny, who watches, stunned for a second, before springing into action. Mark pushes him away and turns back towards the pods.

"Down on the floor. Both of you, down on the floor!" Tom shouts at Mark and Bridget, who are once again trying to exit the pods.

Ruth flinches as a gun is fired, and yet confusion reigns as Mark is still standing. Ruth could have sworn Tom would have hit his mark. Unless, he wasn't aiming for him. Her eyes turn to Bridget quickly, only to find her also unharmed, but will a small smile on her face.

Suddenly, the lights come back on, and Mark begins to unfasten his suit. Tom doesn't move, his gun still trained on the pair.

The familiar sound of Harry's office tour tears Ruth's eyes from Tom and Zoe. She looks passed Danny and sees Harry emerge from his office. Definitely not dead and looking remarkably more composed than the last time she saw him.

Everyone is in stunned silence until Ruth breaks it. "You bastard." She is shaking with barely suppressed anger. She had really thought he was going to die, in his office all alone. And now to find that it was all a game to them.

Harry's face shows no sign that he had heard her. His gaze is trained on Tom, who, like Zoe, is still holding his gun pointed at Mark and Bridget.

"Well done Tom." He says. "A superb display of leadership."

Still Tom does not lower his gun. Sam is crying openly now, part relief, part anger flowing through her.

Only once Harry is stood next to Tom, looking at him expectantly does Tom lower his aim. As Zoe drops her arm, she crumbles, sitting on a desk and sobbing. The team stand and watch as people carrying clipboards emerge from all over the place.

"Thanks, Harry." Tom finally replies, once he can make sense of the situation. "Thank you. How was your night?"

Harry nods at Tom, pleased. "Thoroughly satisfactory." He walks over to Zoe to collect her gun, which she thrusts into his hand. Harry chuckles, that awful, Mutley-style laugh which Ruth remembers from her first day on The Grid, and pulls Zoe into a hug, where she leans into his chest. "Full marks." He speaks against her forehead.

The observers break into applause for the team, most of whom are still riddled with shock and haven't quite managed to release the tension from their EERIE yet. Ruth is the first to walk away from the group, rubbing her forehead to relieve the sudden headache she has acquired.

One of the men with clipboards makes his way over to Ruth, and offers his congratulations to her for her words to Tom when he was lost. She runs her hand through her hair and pats his arm, smiling in thanks, although the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

Ruth is sitting on her desk, feeling lost when Harry suggests they all go for a liquid lunch. She grabs her coat, pleased at the excuse to leave The Grid. She is almost pushed into a pod by Harry, his hand directing her with a soft touch to her side. She has just made it into the pod when she notices the reflection of a flashing red light on her desk. She turns, shuts her eyes and points Harry in the direction of her desk. Suddenly serious, they read the message on her screen.

'RED A/A WARNING.

CONFIRMED THREAT WITHIN 24 HOURS.

ATTACK IN CENTRAL LONDON

INITIATE FULL ALERT.'

He immediately evacuates all non-essential personnel from The Grid and turns to his team, worry etched onto his face.

_It's going to be a long day_.

* * *

**Well guys. This one chapter is just 2,000 words short of my entire dissertation. I can't decide whether to be chuffed or gutted about that..! Hopefully you'll enjoy it, and I haven't missed out too much.**

**I've got a week off work this week, so touch wood I'll be able to get another chapter up at some point :)**

**~LouBelle04~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Pre-2.6**

"Ruth. Downing Street has sent over a request for you to forward them the report on Patmos. They seem to have misplaced their copy of the file after the EERIE." Ruth turned in her chair towards Harry, expression incredulous.

"How is it they can manage to get away with filing reports almost a week after events, when we do it within 24 hours?"

"It's a politician's luxury, Ruth. It is not ours to reason why." Ruth turned back to her terminal, smiling.

As Ruth accessed the report, which she had completed the morning of the EERIE, feeling suddenly cheeky, she added a quick note to the bottom of the file. _Note to the EERIE team - thanks for the worst day of my life you bunch of utter swines!_

Ruth reread the sentence quickly and decided for safety's sake to make certain they realised she was joking. Sort of. She added a smiley face to the end of the note. She heard a muffled chuckle from behind her. Turning towards the noise, she was surprised to see Harry still standing there, with a smirk on his face. _Well, at least he sees the intended joke._

Harry had not quite made it back to his office when Danny arrived on The Grid. As he exited the pods, he called Harry, loud enough for Ruth to hear at her place on the other side of The Grid, which meant both Zoe and Tom could hear too, as their desks were closer to the pods than Ruth's.

Harry turned, walking back towards the group as Danny began talking.

"Want to spend Christmas with my family, Harry? You haven't mentioned you've got plans, so I checked with my Mum if she could make room for one more."

As Danny spoke, Ruth saw Tom and Zoe share a guilty look.

"If not, Harry, you're welcome to come round for dinner at my Dad's. He's a great cook." Zoe spoke up, and Harry turned towards the new voice, face unreadable.

As Ruth took a breath before speaking, her face went bright red. "Just me and the cats if you _are_ stuck for company. I mean, just me. Although my cats will be there. Unless you're allergic to cats. That could be a problem. Cat hair everywhere." Ruth's brain was screaming at her to stop and shut up, but her mouth just kept going.

Harry's face had changed from disbelief, to awkwardness, to irritation and back again too many times to count. As Ruth took yet another breath, Harry, possibly realising that enough was enough spoke for the first time.

"Contrary to popular opinion, ladies and gentlemen, I do not disappear into thin air when I walk out of the doors to Thames House." Harry paused long enough to shoot a slightly scathing glance to his four assembled team members. "I have a number of things to do over this festive period, thank you _very _much."

As their boss stormed away to his office, Ruth turned to Zoe awkwardly and she spotted Danny and Tom exchanging a similar look, before the four of them also walked away from each other, on the pretext of going about their business. _Yes, let's pretend it never happened._

* * *

Ruth took a deep breath and pressed the green button on her landline.

"Harry Pearce." Came the disgruntled reply, after three rings.

"Hi, Harry. It's.. it's Ruth." The words came out at almost a whisper, so intense were her nerves. _Why did I pick up the phone? For God's sake Evershed. He's an adult._

"Ah. Ruth." His voice caressed her name, she thought. "As I would have received any work-related emergency phone calls before you, may I presume this is not to do with work?"

"Yes, er.. happy Christmas."

"And to you Ruth." Harry grinned to himself. He had grown fond of his slightly ditzy analyst these past few weeks.

"I just thought I'd see how you were."

"Checking up on me, you mean?"

"What? No! Well, not exactly. For a consummate spy, Harry, you're surprisingly easy to read. You didn't have anything planned for today, did you?"

"Well it either that, or be inundated with well-meaning but misplaced offers of company for the rest of the year, wouldn't you agree?"

"God. I am sorry about that. We just don't like to think of you alone on Christmas, Harry."

"Who's we?"

"Myself and my cats." She paused just long enough for that to sink in. "Me, Zoe, Tom and Danny, of course, you idiot."

"Idiot? Is that any way to speak to your boss Ruth?"

Ruth's blush was so intense, she was sure that Harry would be able to feel the heat from her skin on the other end of the line. Neither spoke for a few moments, but when Harry did speak, Ruth fancied that she could hear a smile in his voice.

"Cats?"

"Sorry, what?"

"You said cats, Ruth. Have you got another? You've only ever spoken of one before."

"Yes, I, erm, yeah. Fidget was lonely. So I decided to go to the shelter and get another one. Twitch."

"Twitch, Ruth? Really?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Ruth, immediately defensive. "He was already named, and it seemed to fit with Fidget, so I decided to keep the name."

"No judgement, Ruth. Lovely names, really."

"Shut up, Harry." Ruth smiled into the phone, feeling slightly guilty for insulting her boss, yet _again_. "I should go. My Mum said she'd call about this time. She's in France for Christmas and New Year."

"Okay, Ruth. Enjoy the rest of your night."

"And you. Merry Christmas. Again. I'll see you on the 27th. Night, Harry."

On either side of London, the two Spooks put their phones down, simultaneously, both smiling to themselves. _Perhaps today wasn't a waste_.

* * *

**Here's a little snippet, based on things from Harry's Diary and the [spooks] Confidential Handbook. Hope it's mildly interesting, at least!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	8. Chapter 8

**2.6**

Ruth looked up in time to see the CIA delegation arrive through the pods onto The Grid. Briefly shutting her eyes in almost-horror, she picked up her phone and pressed 1. The phone rang for less than two seconds, before Harry answered, from his office.

"Yes?"

"They're sending it here."

"What?" Harry's tone was nonplussed, rather than panicked, therefore Ruth realised that he wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"You said tell Customs to open a crate. So I did. And now they've told me they've had a look and there's a problem and they're sending it here." Ruth turned towards Harry's office, in order to see his reaction. He hadn't noticed her gaze yet, but it rarely took him more than a few seconds to notice when she, or any of the team – she supposed, were looking at him.

"A Libyan problem?"

"They're not saying." As Ruth spoke, Harry glanced up, to find her still watching him. "Which scares me."

Harry's eyes widened slightly as he heard Ruth's words, but before he could reply his attention was demanded by someone in the office. Over the phone, Ruth heard Tom say something, although it was unintelligible to her.

As Harry dismissed Tom, he turned his eyes back to Ruth, exchanging a look with her. Significant, yet unreadable, Ruth surmised. _So, Harry doesn't have an idea what this could be about either. But it can't be good._

"Briefing room, five minutes. I want you and Malcolm in on this too. I need to you to keep an ear out for anything suspicious."

Ruth nodded at Harry, who had already cut the connection between their phones.

* * *

Ruth just had time to let Malcolm know before their presence was required by the Americans. They sat around the edge of the room, accepting the glossy blue briefing folders handed out by Christine Dale's lackeys. Ruth and Malcolm exchanged bemused smiles as they opened their folders, while Christine was still talking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States arrives in this country in approximately seven hours, and he'll be here until 2000hrs tomorrow. We've outlined our security needs on a minute by minute basis in the folder resources in front of you. Clearly FLOTUS and VPOTUS will not be present on this visit. POTUS himself requested the diversionary trip at 1800 GMT yesterday. First you heard of it was probably first we heard of it. So let's make this as pleasurable as possible. A command post has been established at Grosvenor Square with full communications facilities. The POTUS advance team will, in conjunction with members of the White House Protective Research Section, survey each site to be visited by the President. From these surveys, the members of the team will determine manpower, equipment, medical and evacuation requirements for all eventualities."

All eyes were following Christine as she paced the meeting room, a sight which reminded Ruth of Harry, when he was stressed during a large op. _Best not to ever mention that aloud, Ruth!_ She grins to herself quickly, imagining what Harry would say to that, if she ever were to let that slip. At that moment, Tom's phone rang, yet again. Once more, he silenced the call, before turning to the blonde stood next to him.

"We'd actually prefer to do that." His statement was met with a slightly scathing glance from the CIA.

As Christine answered Ruth was flicking through her folder, and was surprised at the gaps in the President's schedule. After all, eight hours was a long flight each way for a 15 hour trip.

Ruth looked up as she heard Christine thank them all for coming to the briefing. She saw Tom look at Harry in surprise, and mouth 'thank you for coming?!' She could only see the back of Harry's head, but she could imagine his expression; something between disbelief and irritation, with some amusement thrown in for good measure.

As a looking man across from Harry spoke, from the blank looks on the faces of those she worked with, Ruth realised she was probably the only one, aside from maybe Harry, who understood a word of what had just been said. _That's what comes of snooping on the American's, I suppose_.

Tom requested a translation from the stern looking American, which Christine took up.

"A full U.S. Secret Service team will be there to meet the President at Brize Norton once the President touches down. We'd appreciate close protection teams from MI5 for perimeter security for the duration of the visit."

Tom's phone rang once more. Again, he ignored it, replacing it in his pocket.

"But not, close to the President." It was a statement, not a question.

"Well, no." Christine looked at him, a challenge in her eyes.

"Why not?"

"Because that's our job."

"It's also our job."

"Not in this case."

"MI-5 oversees the protection of the PM, The Queen and visiting dignitaries."

"Not this one."

Ruth, who had been watching the two of them tennis style, was grateful for Malcolm's interruption, even just to stop her becoming dizzy from looking between the two.

"Diplomatic protocol states quite clearly that the host Government provides 95 per cent of the protection on Presidential visits."

"Not this President, not this visit. Vaclev Havel let us do it our way in Prague and we're doing it our way now. That means a complete adherence to U.S. Secret Service close protection protocol. Every rumour is to be treated as fact until neutralised. Every target is a potential assassin until dealt with. We'd like paranoia to be the norm here until our Commander in Chief is safely back in the skies. I'm sure you can understand that in the current climate. After he's gone, any residual distrust of others will of course be your own problem."

As Christine was speaking, Ruth saw two men carrying a crate round the front of the briefing room, passed the open doors. She prayed no-one but she and Harry realised what the crate contained, as her eyes followed them. Hopefully, none of the CIA team had seen what was obvious to her, as she was looking for it; 'US Diplomatic Dept.' stamped on the side of the crate. Harry turned slightly towards her, as if debating telling her to follow the crate, but clearly decided against that, and returned his attention to the meeting, in time for the end of Christine's speech.

"How very kind of you to point that out." His tone was deadpan.

At that, Harry turned to Danny, Zoe and Malcolm, motioning for them to leave.

"Every Presidential visit, domestic or foreign, has since the Kennedy assassination involved the assembly of what we call the Trip File. In this file is every contact, every threat, every possible target and concern to the safety of the President in every geographical area he will be passing through. The last official POTUS visit to the UK was nearly two years ago. We've done our best to keep up to speed on all of these individuals, but obviously we're going to need access to all of your files to confirm our information is up to date and watertight."

Once more, Harry turned towards Tom, whose expression was blank.

"Well, okay, why don't you just give us your information and we'll cross reference it."

"We'll do it ourselves if that's okay."

"So you want unsupervised access to OUR Registry Files."

"Yeah." Christine seemed surprised that Tom would have the audacity to fight her over this. Or perhaps you'd prefer the President to get a bullet in the brain on your watch."

Tom ground his jaw, angrily. Ruth's face is a picture of complete disbelief, knowing that, if the situation were reversed, the Americans would not let MI-5, or 6, take over an operation on their soil.

As everyone made to leave the meeting room, Ruth followed a few paces behind Tom and Christine Dale.

Christine called out to the stern looking man who had spoken earlier. "Troy, I'll see you downstairs in a minute."

"One of your minutes? He'll be there all night." Tom didn't even glance at her as he spoke.

"Very funny Tom."

"That's me. Tactful to, you'll find." There was no doubt in Ruth's mind that that was a dig at Christine. Apparently Christine had also picked up on that.

"Our two countries have a long tradition of working together and…" Ruth couldn't hear the rest of Christine's reply, as she had left the two of them as they passed her desk. As Ruth fiddled with some papers on her desk, she kept watching Tom and Christine's exchange. There was a slightly knowing look on her face as she watched their conversation suddenly become more intense. Christine moved slightly closer to Tom as he spoke, before she turned on her heel and strode towards the pods.

Ruth's eyes followed Tom as he watched Christine leave, before walking away. "I spy a crush." She muttered to herself, before swearing silently as a pile of papers on her desk slid away from her, onto the floor.

Ruth felt a strange twinge of something in her stomach at the idea of Tom and Christine together. It was absurd, because Ruth knew that she had no feelings for Tom in that respect. She was eternally grateful to Tom for dealing with her spying for Downing Street on the quiet, and she thought he was a fantastic leader of the team, a feeling which had only grown since the EERIE. So why was there a strange tugging in her gut? _Envy?_ _That the two of them could have someone to be there for them?_ That was stupid, Ruth thought. They aren't even together, and there's a healthy level of animosity between them right now. At that moment, she was called away by Colin, asking if she wanted a coffee while he was in the kitchen.

* * *

Once again, Ruth found herself in the meeting room, in a briefing with Christine Dale and the mysterious Troy.

"Someone in Herefordshire has intercepted the Air Force One callsign from Brize Norton." Harry began. He, along with Tom, Zoe, Danny and Christine had finally changed out of the evening clothes they had been wearing since the Italian Embassy Reception the night before.

"How?" Christine's voice was interested, but not worried, as yet.

"These blokes are hobbyists, they spend their lives searching the known military frequencies. They got lucky." Tom answered her.

"So some guy with a parka and a HAM radio knows that Cowpuncher's in the air, so what?" Christine was still unconcerned, but Ruth had a feeling that her news would change all of that.

"Well what it does is create a ripple effect. Little spoddy man talks to his little spoddy friends who put things up on the World Wide Web, where everyone can see it. GCHQ's done a scan of UK message boards and they've found seven verbal threats to the safety of the President in the last thirty minutes alone."

"What are they threatening?"

"They're mostly general, wishing harm and so on. But a few are detailed conversations. And the problematic thing is that they all presuppose the President's schedule rather too well."

Christine's head shot up. "Are you saying there's a leak?"

"No but they'll all know he's landing at Brize Norton - which means there's a flying visit on the cards - which will mean he's getting to London somehow - and presume it'll be a transfer to your Embassy in Marine One." Tom rolled his eyes. Sometimes not everything was as dire as the Americans would like to make out.

Christine and Troy turned to each other, now anxious. "We should change the LZ." Said Troy.

"The what?" Ruth was confused. This hadn't come up in her snooping on the Americans before.

Troy rolled his eyes, but answered her regardless. "The landing zone."

Christine, on the other hand, completely ignored Ruth.

"We don't need to change the LZ, Troy, we need to change the route."

"Maybe bounce Nighthawk to Bamboo, groundside."

Ruth looked to Tom and Zoe. "What's the Landing Zone?"

Tom sighed. "The helipad at the US Embassy."

"Why doesn't he just _say that?_" Ruth didn't enjoy not understanding what was being said, especially when she had already researched a topic, thoroughly. She would never know how she missed the LZ, but she made a mental note to not let it happen again. Ruth's phone rang, and she answered it, as Harry asked if anyone would like another coffee.

"Ruth! Some idiot's spilt something in the crates from Customs. Tea." Malcolm's voice came over the handset, slightly panicked.

"Tea?!" Ruth's tone was bordering on incredulous.

Harry nodded at her, on another conversational thread entirely. "Or tea. Where's Sam?"

Tom shook his head slightly. "No idea." Ruth was surprised; Sam had told her that she was popping out on an errand for Tom.

"It's okay, I'll just, er, go get her." She stood up, trying not to let the Americans know there was something majorly wrong. As she left the room, she noticed Christine and Troy stand as well. _Oh, God. Don't let them be following me._

* * *

Ruth walked into the Forgery Suite, where Malcolm was photocopying file after file.

"Tea..!"

"Tea." Malcolm confirmed.

Ruth's eyes were darting from the photocopier, to the crate behind Malcolm, to the files in his hands. Her face had lost some of its colour.

"Bad?"

"Bad." Once again, Malcolm confirmed her fears.

Ruth nodded slightly, her mind running through various scenarios, with differing levels of _bad_ before she spoke again. "Libya?"

Malcolm's voice was tight as he replied. "Nothing yet."

Ruth picked up one of the sheets Malcolm had just photocopied, examining the damage in despair. She had never seen Malcolm look so tense, and the sight made her more nervous than she would have been.

* * *

Harry approached her desk with a set of files as Ruth was sorting through some background checks. His face was stern, and spoke in low, but urgent tones.

"I presume whatever 'problem' existed with the crate has disappeared? Please say yes."

Ruth blinked twice. "Yes."

_Oh that is so far from the truth._ _Shit._

Luckily, before there was time for Ruth to change her mind and tell Harry the truth, Tom grabbed his attention and they walked away.

As Ruth was having a quick flick through the files Harry had handed her, and mentally organising them into a list, encompassing levels of importance, threat, known associates and _their _threat levels, her attention was caught by a set of heels clicking across the floor in front of her. She looked up to see Miranda Saunders, the in-house psychologist who had been wandering around The Grid for the last two days. As she watched her go, face full of apprehension and mistrust, her attention was caught again, this time by a voice.

"Who's getting the boot?" Ruth's eyes snapped towards the source of the remark, and she was only mildly surprised to see Christine Dale stood talking with Harry and Tom. Ruth's eyes sought out Tom, for reassurance, but he was glaring at Christine. She moved her focus onto Harry, who was already looking at her, his expression wholly unreadable. Ruth felt her stomach sink with dread. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Harry, silently begging him for something, _anything, _to let her know that she wasn't about to be asked to pack her bags and head back to GCHQ. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, but could only have been seconds, Harry walked away.

* * *

Malcolm walked up to Ruth; his stance wary, but panicked. He silently showed her a file, which she speed-read, before walking in the direction of Harry's office, Malcolm following, less than a step behind her.

She didn't bother knocking, something which made Malcolm's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Ruth sent him a questioning glance before moving into place before Harry's desk.

"There are two issues here. One. We're getting a lot of chatter at the Libyan embassy."

"What kind of chatter." Harry didn't seem fazed by Ruth's abrupt start to the conversation, instead jumping right in.

"A lot of euphemisms for America being bandied around. Several vehicles trying very hard to lose their tails. There's not been anything on this scale since '84." As Ruth spoke, she fiddled with her pen, something which she realised was probably becoming an indicator for the others as to her level of nervousness on each operation.

"Any indication of concrete plans?"

"It's all disguised as everyday diplomatic traffic, Harry." Ruth spoke again, her tone slightly dismissive of his question, as if he should know that no-one would put their full plans out into the open, where they could be caught by anyone. Of course, her tone wasn't _too _dismissive, he was her boss after all. "But I don't like it one bit. Which brings us to two." Ruth pointed at the document in Malcolm's hands, which he then placed on Harry's desk.

"A deal memo - in the rough, of course - between the US and Libya."

Malcolm, who had had more of a chance to peruse the document than Ruth took up the explanation. "They accept responsibility for Lockerbie and pay seven billion dollars in reparations. The Americans end unilateral sanctions and help remove them from the Axis of Evil, amongst other things."

Harry's jaw was set as he looked at the document. "No mention of reparations for UK victims."

"None at all." Harry's eyes flicked to Ruth as she spoke, in a gesture of 'well, what did we expect?'

"What do we have on the Libyans at the moment?" Harry's voice had taken on a thoughtful tone, something which Ruth realised could mean no good for the Libyans.

"I'll ask Sam to fish it out." Ruth turned towards the glass wall of the office, meaning to look for Sam amongst the throng of people on The Grid. Instead, she found Miranda walking into sight. She turned back to Harry in exasperation and annoyance. His eyes had followed Ruth's gaze and had also fallen upon Miranda. His features had taken on a look not dissimilar to the one Ruth wore. He half rolled his eyes as he looked back to Ruth, before reading the document in front of him. Ruth left the office through the door which she and Malcolm had entered through, in an attempt to once more avoid Miranda.

_Shit._

It didn't work. Miranda cornered Ruth as she left the office. Ruth turned back towards Harry in despair, only to find him nod at her. _The git actually wants me to go with her. Oh no, Christine Dale was right, someone's getting fired, and it's going to be me._

Before Ruth was almost frogmarched from The Grid by Miranda, she managed to quickly have a word with Sam about digging up the dirt they had on the Libyans.

* * *

Several minutes later, Ruth found herself in Miranda's office on the fifth floor, sitting in a chair across from the dreaded woman herself. Neither had spoken since they arrived. Ruth was looking from place to place, awkwardly.

Miranda broke the silence. "Anything at all. Anything or anyone you feel needs scrutiny. Just let rip. This is your time."

Ruth looked down, nervously, before leaning forward slightly. "What's everyone else been saying?"

"Lots of interesting things."

At that moment, an urgent knock sounded on the door. Both women turned towards the noise, and Ruth sagged in relief to see Sam enter the room.

"Sorry!" The Scot came running in. "Ruth, GCHQ said you'd better have a look at this."

Miranda, for some reason, was not as happy as Ruth was at Sam's intrusion. "Er, we're in the middle of a session -"

Ruth cut her off. "Yes, Miranda, we bloody well are in the middle." At that, Ruth stood up and left, following Sam out of the room. As they shut the door behind them, Ruth stopped Sam and hugged her briefly. "Thank you."

Sam grinned to her, and the pair made their way back to The Grid, where they were needed.

* * *

As Danny and Harry made their way across The Grid, Ruth joined step with the two of them.

"We're getting a fix on at least fifteen security threats and planning raids on ten. We have phone taps going haywire within a two mile radius of every checkpoint."

"Get as much background as you can." Harry barely glanced at Ruth and Danny before heading back to his office.

As they reached Danny's desk, the two remaining officers stopped. "It's these Americans, I'm telling you. Infecting this whole place. Hypochondriacs the lot of them."

Danny logged onto his computer, and Ruth leant towards him slightly. "So, did you hear?"

Danny was completely disinterested as he answered her. "What?"

"Someone's getting the sack." As Ruth walked away, she caught a glimpse of Danny's shocked expression. _Whoops._

Ruth saw Miranda walk onto The Grid and scan around. She silently opened up the first pile of files before her and opened them. GCHQ reports. _Urgh, couldn't have picked something exciting to read while avoiding the nuthouse, could you Evershed?_

* * *

"Ruth." She looked up from her desk to see Zoe walking towards her. Zoe leant crouched down to Ruth's seated height, not an easy feat for a Zoe, at 5'9". "How long has Sam been in there?" The two of them glanced towards the pods, as if expecting Sam to come through at any second.

"Too bloody long." Ruth was still staring in the direction of the pods, her gaze completely passing over Danny's worried face.

"Did she say anything to you?"

"No." Ruth, who had turned her head towards Zoe as she spoke, paused a second before her curiosity got the better of her. "Why, did she say anything to you?"

"Well, no."

Ruth looked down at her desk and Zoe leant even closer to her. "Look, can I ask you something?"

Ruth tensed slightly. "Depends."

"What the bloody hell is going on? Harry just gave me the third degree."

Ruth lowered her voice, and looked at Zoe. "Someone's getting the sack."

A movement in the corner of her eye drew Ruth's attention to Danny, who was watching their conversation with distrust. At that moment, Zoe pushed away from Ruth's desk in frustration.

* * *

Zoe, Danny and Malcolm were already in the meeting room when Ruth arrived. They were now just waiting for Tom and Harry to join them. As Ruth took her seat, the two of them walked in, and Harry began the meeting without any preamble.

"This visit was last minute. If there was an arrangement to meet the Libyans, it would have been a hasty one."

"Unless it's been the goal all along." Danny spoke, as Malcolm's face soured.

"The French have insinuated there a Libyan meeting on the cards."

"It does explain why the Americans scheduled in that sightseeing tour." Zoe still seemed on edge from earlier, Ruth thought.

"As cover for the meeting preparations, over Libyan chatter." Tom clarified exactly what they believed US President would be doing when he was supposed to be visiting the sights of their capital city.

"Who cares if he has the meeting or not?" Zoe didn't completely understand why Harry, Malcolm and Ruth were so worried about this meeting.

Malcolm spoke up. "The seven major state sponsors of terrorism are Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, Libya."

Harry spoke, in an effort to direct Zoe's understanding. "Who wants their name off that list most of all?"

"Libya."

"Who wants out of the Arab League?"

"Libya."

"And who cannot be seen officially negotiating with the diplomatic office of an Axis of Evil nation?"

"The United States of America."

"But what are they going to be talking about?"

This time it was Tom who answered. "Lockerbie."

"They could close the deal without even including us." As she spoke, Ruth saw Zoe's face change into one of complete understanding.

Harry turned to Tom, who Ruth thought was looking resigned. "We all know how well you know the American mind, Tom. But there's only one person who can tell us for sure."

Tom turned to Zoe, pointing to the phone in her hand. "Try her again."

Zoe sighed in annoyance, but nevertheless picked up her phone and dialled a number.

* * *

Ruth, Harry and Sam were gathered around Zoe's computer as she showed the some surveillance photos of the men in the file Harry had given to Ruth earlier that day.

"Dmitri Bubka was on our housekeeping surveillance. Ex Moscow Mafia, now lives here. One of our own Trip List longshots. The other suits are arms dealers. We think some of them have been hawking medical equipment."

Harry was nonplussed. "I understand this is a matter for research, Zoe, but…"

Zoe interrupted him. "This was taken yesterday. Ten miles from Chequers."

Ruth's brain was working overtime. "What equipment?"

"Radiotherapy machines."

Ruth's eyes widened slightly. "Radiotherapy machines hold enough Cobalt 60 to take out Oxford Street on a sunny day. If you can get at it."

Harry, who could see where this was going, spoke in a low tone to Ruth. "Your implication here is..?"

"Dirty bomb." Ruth felt slightly as if everything she ever dealt with on The Grid could turn out to be a dirty bomb, and she didn't enjoy it one bit. Her eyes locked with Zoe's, who looked just as panicked as Ruth.

At that moment, Malcolm came over. "We've received comms from Tom. I've patched him through to the meeting room."

Harry, Zoe and Ruth made their way there, quickly.

"Talk." Demanded Harry.

"We have a microlight on a direct routing to Chequers." Tom explained the problem, as simply as possible.

"Have you got a visual?"

"Yeah, snipers just picked him up on the roof."

"How far away is it?"

"Three, four miles-it's a small fixed wing."

Ruth piped up. "What are the local aerodromes?"

"Chilton Park and Horwood." At that, Ruth walked over to Sam, who had just come in and asked her to do some quick checks.

As Ruth spoke with Sam, the team overheard a disagreement between Tom and Christine, who wanted to shoot the microlight down.

As she joined back into the conversation, Ruth spoke. "You must make this assumption."

Tom's voice was oozing frustration. "If the pilot's aiming straight for the roof of Chequers.."

"Then we can't shoot it down." Harry interrupted.

"And then we have to."

Ruth was getting increasingly panicked as the conversation went on. "Not if it's carrying nuclear material!"

"Whoever said anything about nuclear material?"

Harry tried to calm the team down. "We have nothing credible on that score, however…"

Christine's voice came over the speakers. "What goddamn nuclear material?"

"We cannot discount it completely! A known hitman, sourcing the raw material for a dirty bomb."

Zoe spoke up. "Look, we're putting two and two together to get thirteen. It's absolutely ludicrous."

"No more ludicrous than crashing a plane into a building. Ask anyone about how ludicrous that sounded on September 10th 2001." Ruth looked down as she caught Harry's warning glance.

"Check with the Met Office on local wind conditions, he could just be being blown across." Tom tried to be the voice of reason in the face of Ruth in full blown panic mode.

Christine, her voice angry spoke again. "_What _nuclear material?"

"We have a source who claims there may be radioactive material near the Chequers site."

"What, on its own? In a restaurant?" If the situation hadn't been so tense, Ruth could have laughed at that. Instead, she explained.

"A UK-based hitman was seen attempting to acquire some in London."

Harry jumped in. "Attempting being the operative word."

"Oh great." Christine was not happy.

As Sam came running into the room, she spoke to Ruth. "They're still trying to verify the I.D. of the microlight pilot."

Ruth turned. "Get onto the Met."

Sam left again.

At that moment, they heard Tom receive a message from a pilot, aiming for the microlight.

Tom instructed them not to shoot it down, and then spoke, his voice annoyed.

"Who called this in?"

Christine answered. "The Protective Research Section of the U.S. Secret Service, the CIA and the executive power of the U.S. Federal Government has advised the Royal Air Force to engage the target."

Ruth's eyes shot to Harry as Tom spoke. "You shoot that thing out of the sky with a sidewinder missile and you're not just killing someone. You're raining down hot metal and rocket fuel on hundreds of people!"

With a frustrated sigh, Zoe spoke. "Look, we need more information."

"This is all we have." Harry almost hissed at her.

"There is a small fixed wing aircraft on a collision course with this building. This building houses the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain. I am not going to allow it to get any closer!"

"You went over my head." Tom was furious.

As Christine spoke, Ruth, Zoe and Harry exchanged worried looks. They were aware that this could all be a mistake, but at the same time, the microlight posed a very real threat. _God, where is Sam?!_

"We shoot it now, it disperses over there, we mobilise chem-bio units."

Thankfully, at that moment, Sam came back in. "Met Office says there's a strong following wind that could be blowing him in."

Again, they looked at one another. As they listened to the communication between the pilots, Ruth was hoping that someone, _anyone_ would take some action, be it attack, or call it off.

"Songbird is turning. Repeat. Target is turning." A voice came over the speaker.

"Is he turning?" Asked Christine.

"Is he turning?" Repeated Harry, his voice showing more frustration than Christine's.

"Oh, yeah. He's turning." came the response.

Another voice came through. "Shall we engage? Over."

Ruth shut her eyes briefly as Christine spoke. "Tom?" She opened her eyes to find Harry watching her, his jaw set.

They both were relieved when Tom spoke. "Negative. Will confirm with Air Defence Control. Target is no longer a threat."

Zoe's leant on the desk heavily. "Well. Like she said. Paranoia."

Ruth didn't miss the accusing look Zoe threw her way as she left the room, nor did she miss Harry's gaze flick between the two of them.

Breathing out heavily, Ruth turned and left the room, leaving Sam to follow behind her. _That could have gone so horribly wrong. It would have been my fault if they shot him down. Why did I mention the nuclear stuff?! Come on, Ruth, that just made it worse, they would have possibly shot him down anyway, regardless of nuclear material on board._ _Thank God it worked out okay._

* * *

As Ruth returned to her desk, she was horrified to see Miranda Saunders stood there. She followed Miranda off of The Grid and up to the fifth floor without a word; reminiscent of earlier that day.

As before, Miranda was the one to break the silence.

"I hear you've been avoiding me, Ruth, by reading GCHQ reports. That's interesting." Ruth decided to have a little bit of fun, with her. Well. As much fun as she could after almost two straight days on The Grid.

"They weren't actually, they were pretty boring."

"I didn't mean the contents of the reports. I don't find that interesting at all. But I do find it interesting that you were reading reports from GCHQ."

"Right… I'm not sure I follow." Ruth was speaking the truth, she had no clue where Miranda was trying to take their conversation.

"Well, let's see if you can lead then. Why do you think that I think that that's interesting?"

Ruth laughed, mirthlessly. "This is _ridiculous. _The US President almost died today. I've had one of the longest days of my life. And you've brought me up here to play mind-games!"

"Ridiculous? You call this ridiculous? I tell you what I call ridiculous: you being sent here by GCHQ as a mole to spy on us. Isn't that pretty ridiculous?"

"Ah, so that's what this is about. Ruth the treacherous mole." Ruth had got the feeling before that Miranda didn't like her, and she felt that her line of questioning was just more evidence for the list. Ruth wasn't even sure if Miranda was allowed to look at case files which weren't pertinent to her psychological profiles of them, and Ruth was certain that her report on false information feeding to Downing Street wasn't pertinent in any way, shape or form.

"Are you a traitor, Ruth?"

All the frustration Ruth had felt from the day; the near-miss with the President, the rumours of the sacking that was to happen, everything, split out, and she almost shouted at Miranda.

"Oh, for God's sake, Miranda! No, I am not. Yes, I was sent by GCHQ to keep tabs on MI-5. Yes, I felt uncomfortable doing this. Yes, I didn't have any choice. But I've been over this in my field report for Tom Quinn. These are operational details. Structural details. Bureaucratic details. They've got nothing to do with you. You're a _psychologist._" By the end of her rant, Ruth was almost out of her chair and was pointing at Miranda in anger.

"Okay, Ruth. No need to get upset."

Ruth laughed once more. _Upset? I'll give you upset, you cow._

Miranda continued, oblivious to Ruth's thoughts. "Let's talk about the psychological details, then."

"Yes, let's." Ruth didn't think she'd ever been more sarcastic in her life. Unfortunately, it was completely lost on the woman in front of her,

"How are you fitting in here at Section D?"

Ruth smiled briefly. "It's great. I love it. It's so much better than my old job." Ruth picked up the glass of water on the table before her, and had a quick drink. "I loathed GCHQ, to be honest. Too many bloody mathematicians. I so much wanted to join MI-5; to be a real spy."

Miranda looked at her, quizzically. "But weren't you more suited to GCHQ."

"I suppose, in a way. I was useless at all the field operative stuff in training. I'm much more suited to the research side."

"But that wasn't enough."

"No. The thing is, I find MI-5's work all rather exciting. I might not look like the most interesting person in the world, but I get bored easily. Really, I do. And I'm bloody good at this job." Ruth couldn't even find it in herself to be embarrassed about her complete lack of humility in that regard.

Naturally, Miranda picked up on that. "And modest, too."

"Sorry." Ruth's apology was sincere, but she was aware that she was being honest with Miranda. "I just really want to stay at MI-5, that's all. I can't think of anything worse than being sent back to GCHQ."

Miranda looked at her steadily. "We'll let others be the judge of that."

Ruth sat, tense in her seat. _Oh, no. What's been said about me? Why do people insist on gossiping?!_

Neither spoke for a moment, Ruth mixed up in her worried thoughts, and Miranda to let it sink in. She decided to throw Ruth a bone to end her inner turmoil. "Actually, you're one of the few people that no one else has criticised. You seem to have gone down very well here."

Ruth beamed. "Really? That's fantastic." She felt her previous worry fall from her shoulders.

"Zoe called you, ah.. 'bonkers, but brilliant.' Harry said you were a 'fantastic addition to the team.'

"Harry said that?" Ruth didn't like to think about why Harry's approval meant more to her than the rest of the team, aside from the fact her was her boss, and had the power to send her back to GCHQ; a fate Ruth wished to avoid at all costs. She vowed to think on that later.

"You like Harry, don't you?" _Shit. Perhaps a little _too_ enthusiastic, Ruth._

"He is a fantastic boss, yes."

"And the others?"

"They're all great, yes."

"You seem like a very happy person."

"I am. I have a job I love, colleagues I respect and two cats at home, called Fidget and Twitch. There's really nothing missing in my life."

"I'm very glad to hear that, but are there no... romantic inclinations, Ruth?"

"No. I'm fine as I am. Really." Ruth felt a tiny twinge of something as she spoke. It wasn't a lie, though, not really. She was happy as she was. Just sometimes, it would be nice. But Ruth pushed aside that thought and smiled briefly at Miranda.

"Okay."

"Can I leave now?" Ruth hoped her eagerness to leave wasn't as obvious as her regard for Harry.

"If you wish." Miranda saw straight through her. _For a spy, you really need to work on your mysteriousity, Ruth._

As the door closed behind her, Ruth did a little victory dance in the corridor, grateful that she had made it through unscathed. From the tension on The Grid, between Danny and Zoe in particular, she assumed not everyone's interview had gone the same way.

* * *

When Danny and Tom returned to The Grid, Harry called for a quick debrief in the meeting room.

They ran through the days operation, and then Zoe raised the issue of the microlight pilot.

"Well the microlight pilot was a Mr. Smith. Strayed into restricted space with a defective radio."

"And a defective head." At Danny's words, Ruth smiled slightly, still shaken from the near-miss. She fiddled with the pictures and files in front of her, as she had been doing the entire debrief.

"Dmitri Bubka?" Ruth was glad Zoe mentioned him. She didn't want him getting lost under the radar, only for something similar to happen again.

"Customs are working on that one."

"A project for tomorrow perhaps." As Harry spoke, he stood up, out of his chair and left the room. The others all followed suit.

As Ruth returned to her desk, she saw Danny and Zoe talking to Tom. Both Zoe and Danny looked worried, while Tom just looked confused.

"NO-ONE IS GETTING THE SACK." Tom shouted across The Grid. Ruth smiled to herself. Thank God. Bloody American bimbo. Making everyone panic, for nothing!

* * *

**I am well aware that mysteriousity isn't a word, but I couldn't help it! I wanted it in there, for a bit of fun! To me, it seems like something Ruth would say, for lack of a better word!**

**Hope you've enjoyed the chapter!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	9. Chapter 9

**2.7**

At Zoe's call, the team gathered around the television, where Tom began. "3am this morning, officers working for MI6 woke up Harry requiring an urgent meet. Here's why." He turned the TV on, to show some footage of a Fighter Jet launching a missile into a building. He turned to the team. "What's the first thing you notice?"

Ruth wasn't sure whether he wanted the obvious answer, or if he was being serious, but thankfully, no-one else seemed to be sure, either.

Colin was the first to speak. "This is a test, right? A trick question, surely?"

Ruth smiled at him, and raised her hand, school-style. "That it didn't go off."

"Yeah." Tom nodded, gesturing back to the television set behind him. "The missile punches through numerous concrete walls, once in the heart of the building it detonates, emitting an electro magnetic pulse, destroying all electronic components."

Danny commented. "EMP. Kills technology, not people."

Ruth understood what they were getting at. "No live TV images of mass civilian slaughter."

As understanding dawned on the rest of the team, Zoe spoke. "Just a few dead computers."

"If you're looking to start a war, and need public sympathy, this has to be the weapon of choice." Tom turned back to the television and clicked a button as Zoe began to speak.

"And it's sparked a new arms race. Led by this man." Ruth moved her gaze from the back of Zoe's head to the face on the television. "Henri Durand. French Military Scientist with an ego the size of the Eiffel Tower. Durand doesn't exactly play by the rules. Durand doesn't exactly play by the rules. In the eighties he was linked to the development of the sale of arms that were then peddled to the Argentinians."

"MI-6 have been monitoring his activities ever since."

Ruth was surprised by Tom's statement. "Is that.. legal?" she asked.

Tom grinned at her, but Zoe carried on, as if she had not heard Ruth's question. "A few months ago he and his ego suddenly resigned from their post in the French Military. They took the technology with them."

"Durand's been busy using EMP technology to create a whole new programme with private financial backing. He's created an air burst missile. Detonates at a thousand feet - sending an EMP wave well over a square mile. A few of those could bring London to its knees."

Colin nodded. "Lights out, game over."

"He's called this new program Firestorm." Ruth grinned slightly at Tom's words. _The man really does have an ego, doesn't he!_

"The backer's name is Frank Hastings. Middle weight arms dealer." As Zoe spoke, Tom changed the picture on screen once more.

"The man we ran a low grade operation on a while back?" Danny wanted clarification.

Tom nodded. "MI-6 have been monitoring his activities. Hastings has met Durand in Paris a number of times and lured him away from the French government on the promise that he'll sell Firestorm. And we've been tasked to procure the program before it's sold."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You mean steal it."

"From the French?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah." Tom didn't seem surprised that they were being asked to do this. He nodded. "British owenership is the best defence. Cold war rhetoric I know, but this is the job."

Ruth tried her best to look disapproving, but wasn't sure she quite managed it. "Well, if that isn't illegal it's.." she paused, glancing at Colin, eyes sparkling. "very _very_ naughty." She had to look away from Tom as she finished her sentence; she didn't want to start laughing at the whole idea. She idly wondered what Harry would think of this, if he had okayed the plan, or if he would have anything to add if he was here and not stuck in traffic halfway across London.

Ruth had managed to compose herself by the time Zoe spoke again. "The sale of Firestorm could raise ample cash to buy three small African countries with enough change left over to save the NHS."

"But there is only one copy. And this copy can only be accessed via Durand's laptop."

Danny sounded confused as he spoke. "Why haven't MI6 tried to get hold of Firestorm before?"

"No opportunity." Said Tom. "Durand's careful. When the laptop isn't handcuffed to his wrist, it's locked in a safe."

"So, where's he now?" Danny asked. Ruth had been wondering the same thing. _Why now?_

"MI-6 tracked him here from Paris last night." Tom clicked his remote and the picture on the television changed. "To Hasting's Defence Solutions. Intelligence indicates that he and Hastings will sell Firestorm within 48 hours."

"Who's buying?" Questioned Ruth.

"Well, it's tricky." Zoe answered. "We're scanning all usual suspects. Iran, Syria, Libya. Checking all the embassies for business travellers and hidden guests."

"One other thing. We musn't get caught." As Tom spoke, Ruth almost snorted her amusement, but managed to hold it in. _Of course. The potential for diplomatic disaster is huge._

Zoe spoke pretty much what Ruth had been thinking. "Nothing that we do can connect us to Firestorm."

"So we set someone up?"

Tom rephrased Danny's words into something less… condemning. "We task an agent who is completely deniable. Someone who had never worked in a government agency before."

"A clean skin." Zoe seemed reluctant about this part of the plan, although by her tone, she seemed to know that it was a necessary element, important in the whole 'don't get caught' thing. Ruth looked at the desk, also not entirely comfortable with the plan.

But Tom still wasn't finished. "_And_ we've got to do all this with the French watching over us. The DGSE know Durand is here. They're sending one of their operatives over, requesting our assistance."

"Well, I don't know about you lot, but I'm looking forward to this." Zoe grinned as Danny asked why. "Just a feeling."

Tom clicked his remote once more, and the picture changed from a shot of Hasting's office to a headshot of a very handsome man. "Jean-Luc Goyon from the DGSE." Sam said as much. "Wow." Ruth couldn't help but agree, although he wasn't quite her type, she could see his attractiveness.

Tom ignored her. "Expert in surveillance techniques and ex-Special Forces."

Sam's phone rang at that moment. "Hello." After listening for a second or two, she spoke. "Yep. Thank you." Sam replaced the receiver and grinned. "Jean-Luc's in the lobby by the way."

Tom nodded. "Keep him down there as long as you can."

Sam grinned. "Keep him down _where._" As Ruth's lips twitched, Danny turned towards Sam, distinctly unimpressed. Sam seemed to realise the inappropriateness of her comment. "Sorry." Ruth watched as Sam shook her head in a '_what_ did I just say' gesture, but smiled at the younger woman.

As Danny turned back to Tom, his ruffled feathers stood out. "I didn't think working with the French was our thing."

"I think.. I.. I think it's a really, _really_ good idea." Zoe grinned.

"I saw him first."

"I out-rank you."

As Zoe raised her eyebrows at Sam, Ruth couldn't help but sigh in amusement at how easily one man could cause so much excitement on The Grid. _These two are meant to be mature adults!_

As Sam headed towards the pods, she mouthed "bitch" at Zoe, who, along with Ruth, laughed.

Tom stuck his hands in his pockets as he spoke. "Actually, Danny, he'll be with you."

"What? I don't want him!" As all heads turned towards him, Danny narrowed his eyes.

Ruth spoke up. "What do the French government know about all this?"

"Nothing about Firestorm." Sighed Zoe, gutted about missing her chance with the handsome Frenchman.

Danny, who had noted Zoe's tone, spoke, a hint of childishness in his voice. "I'm gonna stick him on static obs with an ash tray and a pot of coffee."

"Jean-Luc can't get wind of us running a secret operation." Ruth looked towards Zoe, the enormity of the task dawning as the younger woman spoke.

Tom, who was looking amused spoke to Ruth. "Let's go through criminal record files. If someone with form for burglary happened to be caught in the middle of this, we can deny involvement."

"What if they start spilling the beans?"

"They'd have to prove it first."

As he addressed the entire team again, Ruth picked up her pen and notebook, jotting down some ideas of people who could fill their need.

"The key to procuring Firestorm is Durand's laptop."

"Firestorm's like a jigsaw. It's encrypted on the web in numerous sites. The only way to complete the jigsaw is with a series of codes. These codes then have to be inputted onto Durand's computer." Colin looked mildly impressed as Zoe spoke. Ruth thought this was a job he'd really enjoy, and it was a shame he wouldn't be able to give it a go.

"MI-6 have tried to access the laptop before." Tom said.

"Tried and failed." Clarified Zoe. "They did however discover the access codes via surveillance recordings."

Ruth looked up as Danny asked where the codes were.

"Ah, they're in Harry's briefcase."

At that moment, the pods opened and the man in question walked through. Ruth thought he looked awful. As she scanned Harry's profile, Ruth noticed that he didn't seem to have briefcase. _Shit._

Tom made his way over to Harry, who wearily directed them all towards the meeting room.

* * *

As Harry explained the situation, Danny spoke; the first one to say anything since Harry had entered The Grid, ten minutes earlier.

"Maybe it was just a random robbery."

"I have a state of the art alarm system, a random burglar wouldn't know where to start." Harry had been unable to sit since he had begun, pacing nervously up and down the meeting room. He almost shouted his reply at Danny, the stress obvious in his voice.

Ruth watched Harry, uncertainly, knowing that what she was gearing herself up to say wouldn't be taken well.

"I found some traces of blood. It's being analysed now."

Ruth took a breath. "You have to tell them." There was silence. "Six will have copies of the codes and we need them." As she spoke, Ruth didn't take her eyes from Harry, although she could feel the others looking at her.

Harry only tore his eyes away from Ruth as Zoe spoke, for which Ruth was thankful. She didn't think she could have held his gaze for much longer without saying something stupid.

"Harry, it's our duty as much yours to report this."

Harry looked down, resigned. "I know." He paused for a moment. "However I would ask a few hours while I try and save my career. I'll be in my office." Ruth's felt awful for Harry. Years in the service, his life, devoted to the job, his family; ruined by the job. And it could all be lost because of a pot luck burglary. Ruth was aware that she shouldn't have that level of knowledge about Harry's past, but she had read his file, more often than she would like to admit, in order to try and understand the man who was such a legend in their line of work.

As Harry left, the four remaining in the room were silent for a few moments, processing all the information, with no small amount of disbelief. Although Ruth did feel bad for Harry, there was no denying that he had been in the wrong. She said as much to Tom, Zoe and Danny. "Rule number one. Never _ever_ take your work home with you."

"And rule number two is to report any officer that does. Especially when he goes and loses it. We could all be implicated in a cover-up." Ruth agreed with Zoe.

"Harry wouldn't be the only one to lose his job."

As Zoe made for the phone in the centre of the table, Tom grabbed her hand and replaced the receiver. "No. I realise the implications in this, but he asked for a few hours. Let's see that he gets them."

Zoe leant in across the table. "Oh, and you think he'd do the same for us?"

There was silence between them, as each office wondered the same thing. Ruth couldn't help but think that, actually, Harry would do the same for them. He had a deep level of trust and loyalty to each of them, and expected the same in return.

Tom scanned the faces of the three of them. "Our only concern here should be losing momentum on this op which could mean losing the chance of procuring Firestorm, which could be bad for all our careers."

"I'm sorry, Tom, but I think…"

Tom cut Zoe off. "The Frenchman wants eyes on Durand. Danny, see he gets whatever he needs. Now, we run this op as normal. Just try and keep him out this building for as long as possible. You two," he looked at Zoe and Ruth as he spoke, "try and find a way of getting a clean skin into that building."

Ruth was unhappy about the entire situation. She could lose her job over a mistake that wasn't hers; it hardly seemed fair. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Yes you DID. I read the paperwork."

With that, Tom left the room, leaving three shocked officers behind him.

* * *

Ruth followed the team and Jean-Luc into the meeting room a short while later, taking the chance to check him out from behind as he walked. She was amused to notice Zoe doing the same, and exchanged a smirk with her as they sat down. They both watched him carefully as he spoke, drinking in his features and his voice. "Durand was our top weapons development scientist. Leaving at such a crucial time obviously raised suspicions. Anything Durand was working on is the property of the Government of the French Republic. We appreciate your help. Very much."

"How long will Durand be here." Danny managed to hide his disdain for the Frenchmen very well, Ruth thought.

"Forty-eight hours. We simply require some low level observation and of course the phone taps we requested."

Harry nodded. "I'm reliably informed that we'll have those by midday."

Jean-Luc didn't seem happy with this, and squared his shoulders to face Harry. "I don't think you understand. Durand thinks he's safe here. If he has stolen technology from France, this is where he'll probably sell it. This is why we requested the phone taps in advance."

Harry spoke, his voice betraying nothing. "I realise that, but there are certain procedures we have to follow. Danny heads our surveillance section. He's at your disposal." With that, Harry stood from the table and left the room.

At that moment, Sam walked in, with a pot of tea and a cup for Jean-Luc. "Attention, c'est tres chaud."

Ruth smiled at Sam's blatant flirting, but noticed that Danny wasn't as amused. "Durand has gone straight to Hastings' offices. I've got a surveillance unit enroute."

The rest of the team stood from the table, as Danny made to leave, with the exception of Sam, and Jean-Luc, who was drinking his tea. As Ruth left, she heard Jean-Luc speak once more. "Sam? Merci."

Ruth wasn't even sure if Sam's response was even French, it made that little sense, but as Danny spoke, his accent near perfect, she could sense his displeasure.

* * *

Ruth was tapping away at her computer, when Zoe spoke for the first time in near on an hour. "Any more ex-cons? I've run out of candidates."

"No." Ruth was beginning to give up all hope of finding someone.

"Ruth, if we do manage to find someone suitable for this, what about training them?"

Harry's voice, angry, startled Ruth from her computer. "We'll tackle that when we've got our clean skin."

Apparently, Zoe wasn't put off by their boss' harsh tone. "Harry, all of this is pointless unless we find those stolen codes. You know the ones that were in _your_ briefcase?"

Ruth winced internally at Zoe's accusation, but a part of her still felt it was justified. "If we run this agent clean, it means no pieces of paper, no proof."

Harry glared at her. "I know what it means." His jaw was set. Ruth realised that he was judging himself up about this just as much as they were.

Zoe jumped in again, perhaps to save Ruth from their boss' harsh gaze, or perhaps to have another pop at Harry. "That's a lot of numbers to remember. In the field, under stress. Could _you _do that?"

"I want a list of agents within the hour." As he walked away, Ruth thought she saw Harry sigh slightly, in defeat. _This is ridiculous, surely there's no-one who can do this, not on such short notice._

As Ruth turned back to Zoe, the younger woman rolled her eyes, before sighing half-heartedly and moving back to face her computer.

* * *

Ruth and Malcolm walked over to the fax machine where Zoe was looking a little peaky. "You alright?" She asked. "You look sick."

Zoe nodded slightly. "Harry just asked me if I wanted a cup of tea."

Malcolm winced as Ruth made a face. "Did he."

"I know. I mean, when was the last time he did that?"

"September 18th 1995, for the Minister of Defence Procurement. I think he wanted something." Malcolm was deadpan as he spoke.

Zoe and Ruth exchanged a look. _Ah, so he wants us to keep quiet about the briefcase then. Hmph. Where's my cup of tea you git?_ After a moment, she speaks. "Are you going to say anything? About the briefcase?"

Zoe looked pained. "Let's just see if we can find this clean skin."

Ruth nodded and walked back to her desk.

* * *

It was almost midday and Ruth was just about to go and get her lunch from the kitchen when her desk phone rang. "Yeah." She answered by way of a greeting.

"The Chinese President's official plane has just requested a stopover. Can we get a passenger list?" Tom's voice came through.

"Who am I looking for?"

"Not sure."

"Okay." But Tom had already hung up.

* * *

Half an hour later, Ruth scans the list of people aboard the Chinese President's plane, and her mouse stops over one name. A Military scientist, Dr Zheng Jing Hui.

"Sam." As Sam comes over, Ruth hands her a piece of paper. "Search the yellow tags in Registry. Everything we have on this man. Now, please." As soon as she'd finished talking, Ruth left her desk and heads to the printer to pick up the file she had just sent there.

Once she has the file in hand, Ruth sits back down at her desk, and starts adding the newly discovered information into a cross-reference search.

Within minutes, Ruth has what she was looking for. She prints another sheet and makes her way to the Forgery Suite, where Zoe is working. She sits down and begins. "Two hours ago GCHQ picked up a call from the Chinese government's 747, to Hastings' offices."

Zoe picked up the papers. "Christ, it's a Chinese sale."

"Makes sense. Many believe they're the next superpower."

"Well, they'll be one, big step closer if they get their hands on Firestorm."

Ruth nodded as she picked up the paper and made her way towards the meeting room, where she knew Tom was and heard Zoe do the same.

They walked in, to find not only Tom, but Harry there too. Ruth was surprised to note that Harry wouldn't make eye contact with her, maybe something to do with Zoe following close behind? She pushed the thought aside and got started.

"I've checked the passenger list from the Chinese plane. A missile expert was on board. Dr Zheng Jing Hui."

"He called Hastings from the plane. A meeting's been arranged for tomorrow. Hastings Offices, 9am" Zoe spoke.

Tom leant across the table. "Harry he's fourteen years old."

Ruth and Zoe exchanged a confused look, before following Harry's gaze and seeing a picture of a young black boy, labelled JJ Franks.

Harry made his way around the table. "That's why no one would believe MI-5 tasked him to steal anything."

Zoe laughed. "You're not serious?"

"Use a child as a clean skin?" Ruth was shocked, but while she was horrified by the idea, she could see the merits of the plan. _That doesn't make it any better._

"You think this would be the first time? Terrorists aren't the only ones to manipulate youth. It's all part of the game."

Zoe was outraged. "The _game? _This isn't a game Harry! You might think it is, but I'm not playing"

Ruth and Tom watched Zoe make her way to the doors preparing to leave until Harry drew their attention back towards him.

"Then you better come up with an alternative, and fast, because right now a fourteen year old thief is our best option." Zoe slammed the door shut once Harry had finished speaking, and Ruth stayed put for a few seconds, before gathering her papers and leaving the room silently.

* * *

As Harry left the meeting room with Zoe an hour later, having been called back in to watch Tom's interview with JJ, he made his way over to Ruth. "We've had a break-through. Tell Danny to keep Goyon focussed on surveillance. Under no circumstances is he to come near Thames House."

Before Ruth had a chance to reply, Harry had walked away. She picked up the phone to call Danny with an update, but he beat her to it. "Durand and Hastings are on the move."

"They're selling Firestorm to the Chinese. Harry said keep Jean-Luc distracted."

"He knows we're onto them."

Ruth was surprised. "How?"

"Because I would." Danny hung up on Ruth. _Nothing like ringing off sharply, is there in this job? Never a goodbye, just the dial tone._ Ruth grinned to herself; just the other day she had noticed that she herself was starting to end phone calls before saying goodbye. _Better not do that to Mum again, she wasn't amused last time._

* * *

When Danny came back onto The Grid, Ruth gave him ten minutes or so to get set up before calling over to him at his desk. "How's it going with Jean-Luc?"

"I'm not convinced by him." Came the reply. Ruth quirked her eyebrow. _Nothing to do with the Frenchmen having turned Sam's head, of course._

Ruth wondered over to his, with a few files. "What are we looking for exactly?"

"A sign that Jean-Luc's not being completely honest with us. It's here somewhere, I know it is."

"As long as our clean skin gets in and steals Firestorm, what does it matter if Jean-Luc's telling us the truth or not?"

At that moment, Danny picked up a surveillance photo and held it up, next to the picture on his computer screen. He pointed out the same man in each photo to Ruth. "Who's he?"

Without a word, Ruth took the photo and made her way back to her desk to try and find out.

* * *

It's over an hour later by the time Ruth had discovered the man's identity, and she made her way over to Danny to update him. "Richard Bertrand. Ex-Foreign Legion. Currently attached to the French Secret Service."

"The Foreign Legion."

"As was Jean-Luc." She turned to face Danny, a knowing look on her face. "Held the rank of Captain. Bertrand served under him."

"If Jean-Luc identified Jing Hui, he'll know Durand's got something worth selling. And I'm sure he'll have a team on stand-by to snatch it before that happens. We've _got_ to get in there first and steal it from the French. Let's tell the others."

Ruth nodded and made her way back to her desk to prepare as much information as she could before the other came back to The Grid.

Once Harry, Tom and Zoe had arrived back from running JJ through the system, Ruth followed them into the meeting room and Danny got down to business.

"Jean-Luc and Richard Bertrand are both ex-Special Forces."

Tom spoke up. "Are you certain Jean-Luc identified our Chinese specialist?"

"99%. Which, with special forces involved, will mean only one thing."

Tom nodded. "A take team. As soon as Jean-Luc sees the Chinese pull into Hasting's car park they'll try and stop whatever's going off."

"Do we abort?"

"No." Harry's abrupt answer to Zoe's question took no-one by surprise. "We've been tasked to steal Firestorm. That is exactly what we are going to do. And before the French try and get their grubby paws on it."

"Double up surveillance teams, watch Durand's every bloody move and try to keep tabs on what our Foreign legion friends are doing." Tom gave his orders to Danny before leaving the room. The others all followed suit.

As Ruth left, she joined step with Harry. "Do you think JJ can do this? He's only fourteen."

"He's got to, Ruth. For all our sakes." Ruth nodded slightly.

"It's just. Harry, he's a kid, and he could get left in there; arrested; for something we've made him do!"

"He'll be fine." With that, Harry walked away. Ruth ran her hands through her hair, irritated, and made her way back to her desk.

* * *

As the operation went on, Ruth, who was only hearing second hand reports about its progress had been getting more and more worried about JJ's safety. Nobody knew whether he had escaped, and almost two hours later, they had no more news about where JJ was, or what he had done with the laptop. Zoe was practically bubbling over with anger, and Ruth could understand completely how she felt. It seemed to them that, of the team, only the women gave any thought to how JJ would cope, or cared whether he even made it out of Hastings Offices unscathed.

Ruth watched as Jean-Luc was escorted from The Grid by Tom. She watched their progress from the building via the CCTV cameras. Now that it had emerged that Jean-Luc's interference was to blame for them losing JJ, Ruth didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, which she admitted to herself was not far at all, although maybe that was the point.

As Ruth watched Jean-Luc hail a taxi, Tom froze on screen. Instead of making his way back into Thames House, as she'd expected, he crossed the road. Intrigued, but feeling a little guilty for snooping on her colleague like this, Ruth switched cameras to focus on Tom's destination, where she was almost ecstatic to see JJ leaning on a set of railings. Ruth froze the camera footage, grinning.

"Zoe!"

She made her way over quickly, to where Ruth was pointing at a static image on her screen. Zoe let out a breath of jubilation, turning to Ruth and grinning.

"Thank God." Ruth nodded her agreement.

* * *

**There we go, my next offering! Hopefully you'll enjoy this!**

**Just a quick thing to point out, I know that in the earlier episodes, our lovely Spooks work in Section B, but as I don't know when they change to Section D, for my sake, I've decided to write it as if they're Section D all along. Hope nobody minds!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	10. Chapter 10

**2.8**

Ruth clicked on the new e-mail which had just flagged up on her system.

'Dear Ruth,  
your secondment to MI5 is currently under review. Discussions with your head of Sector, regarding your continued placement, are on going and a decision will be made within 7 days, after which time you may be returned to GCHQ.  
Yours Sincerley  
Simon Horwood – _Liaison Officer_'

As Ruth scanned the e-mail, her face fell."Shit." She whispered. Finally, the message she had been dreading had arrived. She didn't want to go back to GCHQ, she really didn't. Ruth had come to love working at MI-5, and the team had become like family, even in the short time she had been with them. Being on the front line of National Security was a challenge a day, for Ruth, but she knew she was bloody good at the job. She thought she'd rather quit the service altogether than have to return to GCHQ, where every week was the same; just day after day of sifting through information, which they had no idea whether it was relevant. The interesting bits got passed straight to MI-5, or 6, where the _real_ spooks got to do the action-packed work. Of course, Ruth knew that it wasn't all fun and games, people's lives were at stake, and more often than not, the paperwork took longer to complete than the op itself. But still, Ruth adored working with MI-5. _God, I hope Harry doesn't send me back. I don't think I could stand it._

At that moment, the man in her thoughts dragged her from her reverie. "What's going on today, in the wonderful world of espionage?" He approached Danny as he spoke. _He always liked to make an entrance, did Harry._

Ruth grabbed a pile of papers and made her way over to the rest of the gang.

"Well, the tube dispute is on-going. Our people inside the RMT and TGWU say they're just about to get back in the ring, possible wildcat actions planned." Harry nodded at Zoe.

"What's the headline intel?"

"Er, I've only had time to check the overnight Grade One headers. There's an avalanche coming in from our union sources." Ruth was aware that her not being completely up to date on all the information sounded awful, especially in light of her e-mail. _Shit._ But she was aware it was impossible to sift through everything that was coming in on her own, unless someone invented a way to fit more hours into a day, or someway to help people survive on no sleep.

Zoe spoke once more. "Almost fifty agents in key sectors now, all saying the same thing."

"Specifically?" Harry asked, cocking his head slightly.

"Well, that while the government's got its back turned on domestic issues, the unions are gathering strength."

"Stay on it. Keeping this country's infrastructure working is part of defending the realm. Next." Harry looked over to Danny. "How's Tom getting on?"

"Tom has been contacting us daily at 0700 and 2300 hours without fail. Curtis' Company are next in line for overseas deployment as required, so they're on full time exercise. But, there are some morale problems on base. Tom photo-messaged this over from his mobile last night."

Danny hit the remote, as the picture Tom had sent in flashed up onto the screen.

"'Fancy spending nine months away from home on crap pay, provide strike cover for Firemen earning twice as much money for six months work, and face the possibility of being killed for a country full of greedy, pathetic and selfish individuals? Sign below. Army - Be Depressed.'" Danny read the picture out loud as the team read it.

"Well, it's a fair point." Zoe quipped.

"Satire never brought a country down." Harry dismissed the issue.

Danny hit the remote again. "Curtis is a soldier's soldier. He'd rather be in the company of his men than sitting behind a desk. He takes full part in all exercises. But Woods, our whistleblower Corporal - codename Nightingale - has come up with no proof, no evidence that Curtis is planning mutiny."

"We could be wasting our time." Zoe wasn't at all sure about this lead.

Harry raised his eyebrows at Zoe. "No strike cover for industrial disputes. No security back-up in case of major terrorist incident. Britain's interests overseas put in severe jeopardy. Every tinpot General from Somalia to poor sad little North Korea and all points in between gloating on CNN. The special relationship with our cousins severely embarrassed. Until we know for sure, it's not time wasted."

Harry let his words sink in. "So. What do we know about Curtis?"

Zoe began, hugging her folder to her. "Sam Curtis led five men over 200 miles of Iraqi desert in 1991, and was the subject of a best-selling account of the operation. Eric Woods glassed a fireman in a pub then put a spotlight onto Sam Curtis in a bid for leniency. He could be playing us. I say we just pass this over to Army Intelligence."

Harry shook his head. "Curtis' reputation precedes him throughout the country. It'd be like asking the Vatican to prove Mary wasn't a virgin."

The team smirked briefly, and Ruth let out a quiet chuckle. _Oh, what a way with words our boss has._

"'Incitement to disaffect' is a ballchopper charge under the Army Act. He's a military legend, a public hero. The sort of Englishman who'll end up with a statue in Trafalgar Square and a building named after him in Whitehall. But Chief of Defence Staff is adamant this is our jurisdiction. If Curtis is guilty, we've got to stop him. Thank you all." With that, Harry left.

As Ruth made her way back to her desk, she heard Danny ask Zoe. "What if _we_ went on strike?"

Ruth snorted. _Like anyone would notice._ Ruth had a feeling Zoe would say something very similar.

* * *

Danny was a bit jumpy as he spoke urgently to Sam. Ruth and Zoe were sat a few feet behind, on a different desk, but were able to hear everything that was said. Ruth laughed lightly as Danny turned around _again_ to check that Harry was still in his office, and Zoe rolled her eyes. Ruth and Zoe listened in as they were checking over the paperwork for Tom's exit strategy for his stint in the army.

"How many officers are up for it?" He asked.

"Nineteen."

"Budget?"

"One twenty five."

"A hundred and twenty five quid, is that it?" Danny's horrified tone drew Ruth's gaze. "We can't afford something like this on .. six fifty an officer!"

Malcolm walked over, and leant down next to Sam. "Six fifty seven, actually." Ruth hoped that Danny would take it as a hint to keep his voice down.

"What about time, date, location?" Danny turned back to Sam.

"1900 hours, 21st, budget means we'll have to do it at home."

Danny span round in his chair to talk to Zoe. "What's the transport infrastructure gonna be that night?"

Zoe and Ruth were momentarily nonplussed at the language Danny was using. _Just ask if there's going to be strike, idiot._ Ruth did like Danny, but he had a tendency to go overboard sometimes.

"Well, there are no tube strikes planned if that's what you mean."

"Good. Good." He span back round to Sam, excited. He span round again, checking Harry was _still_ in his office. "And we're sure Harry suspects nothing?"

"Nothing." Smiled Sam.

"Danny!" Zoe exclaimed. "We're not trying to infiltrate Baghdad. It's just a bloody birthday party."

Danny's outraged face was a picture. "Shh!" He span his chair back to face Sam, dismayed by Zoe's blasé approach to their plans. Zoe rolled her eyes as she turned back to Ruth, whose eyes were sparkling with mirth.

* * *

Less than twelve hours later, Ruth made her way over to Zoe, who had just come in, with an armful of papers. She dumped them on Zoe's desk before she had even had time to take off her bag. "Overnight intel."

Zoe flicked through it, incredulously. "I haven't done yesterday's yet, Ruth. I've been up half the night. Don't you have top-sheet summaries?"

"I can't analyse everything myself, you'll have to cherry-pick."

"Well, that's your job isn't it?!"

Both women were frustrated, and running on very little sleep; not a great time to be having an issue at work. Ruth stopped as Zoe spoke, her eyes downcast. "Not for much longer."

That held Zoe in her tracks. "What?" Her voice was immediately full of concern. Ruth liked to think Zoe was a friend, one she would miss when she got sent back to GCHQ.

Ruth heard Harry come up behind them, and turned away determinedly as he spoke to Zoe. "How was Tom?"

She kept her eyes on her work, feeling Zoe's gaze on her, worried. Zoe was struck dumb for a moment, her mind a mix of little sleep and confusion over Ruth's last words. "Oh. Grumpy."

"He'll survive." And off Harry went.

Zoe ensured he was out of earshot, before turning back to Ruth. "What do you mean?"

Ruth smiled, in spite of the mass of emotions coursing through her, but she knew Zoe could see that it didn't reach her eyes. Instead of replying, she directed Zoe's attention towards a picture in the mountain of papers. "Look at that. Of all government ministers I'd never have made him for a leather queen. No wonder he hasn't got time to sort out the unions." Ruth's movements were jerky, a sign that she was struggling to control herself. She knew that if Zoe, or anyone, phrased a question in the right way that everything would come spilling out.

"Ruth." She ignored Zoe's tone and walked away before she told her everything. It was far too early for an emotional talk, and Ruth knew it would be; on her side, anyway.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Zoe had managed to corner Ruth in the kitchen. "What did you mean earlier?"

Ruth looked around, quickly, checking no-one was about, but spotted Colin, cup in hand, approaching. "Tea?" Zoe followed Ruth's gaze and saw Colin as he came in, smiling at the two of them. She leant in close to Ruth and whispered to her. "Meeting room? Fewer people about there." Ruth smiled gratefully and made the two of them a cup of tea. Colin made idle small talk with the two of them as they waited for the kettle to boil. When their drinks were ready, Ruth gathered her files in one hand, and her cup in the other. Zoe followed her, quietly.

As they sat in the meeting room, Ruth took a slug of tea to calm her down, before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"I got an e-mail yesterday. From GCHQ. They said that they're in discussions with Harry about my secondment here, and unless Harry wants to keep me on, in seven days I'll be returned to work there. I love this job, Zoe."

Ruth kept her eyes focussed on her desk, not wanting the younger woman to see the dismay in her eyes.

"Look, Ruth, Harry's not a fool." At that, Ruth looked up to find Zoe staring at her, intently. "You're good. He'll want to keep you here."

"God, I hope so. I don't wanna go back to GCHQ. Too many bloody mathematicians for one thing." Zoe let out a short laugh, and Ruth smiled, but before she could say anything more, Danny barged in. Ruth sat back in her chair, feeling suddenly awkward. She paid no attention to what Danny was telling Zoe, instead watching Zoe's face. The woman across from her seemed irritated at her flatmate's sudden arrival, and it warmed Ruth to realise that perhaps Zoe really did like her and believe that Harry would keep her on, once her secondment was up.

As Zoe and Ruth locked eyes, they shared a look, both of them despairing at Danny's lack of tact. Danny had completely ignored Ruth since he had encroached on her and Zoe's chat, and she felt it was time to make her exit.

"Well... I'll just go read a North Korea Evening News or something..." Ruth stood up and left the room quickly, leaving both her files and half-drunk cup of tea behind. She made her way back to her desk, via the toilets, just to check that she didn't look like she'd been upset. Happy that no-one, except Zoe, would be able to see her feelings, she got back to work.

* * *

After another hour of waiting and wondering about whether Harry would renew her secondment, Ruth decided to bite the bullet, and go and ask the man himself. She walked into Harry's office, without knocking, as had become a trait, and started speaking.

"What's happening about my secondment? I got an e-mail yesterday from GCHQ. Can you tell me what's going to happen. Will you renew my contract here?"

Harry spoke, and by the look on this face, it wasn't going to be the response Ruth hoped for, so she interrupted him, before he had a chance to say anything.

"Come on, Harry, give me a chance to stay on. You know I'm good at my job. Overworked, but _bloody_ good."

Harry looked almost exasperated, and Ruth barely heard the knock on his office door as he replied. "No decision has been made yet."

At that moment, Zoe, throwing Ruth an apologetic glance, handed Harry a piece of paper. "Our R.M.T. source says there'll be a wildcat strike on West Midlands rail-lines in the next thirty minutes."

"What do they want now?" Harry looked at the document, forehead creasing slightly. Ruth folded her arms in front of her and sucked in a breath.

"That's not the issue. There's a consignment of spent nuclear fuel. On its way to Dover by rail. It's about to grind to a halt, sitting in the open countryside."

Harry spoke as if the solution was obvious. "Well, liaise with the nuclear authority and get it moving again."

"Right." Zoe looked between Ruth and Harry, eyes widening slightly as she and Ruth locked gaze. "Er, good intel, Ruth, thank you."

Ruth watched Zoe go, before turning back to Harry, a challenge in her eyes. _Yeah. You heard her. So what are you going to do about it?_

As he looked at her steadily, Ruth refused to remove her gaze from him. "Thank you, Ruth." It was a dismissal, one which Ruth couldn't really ignore, but she wasn't done. She smiled slightly, hoping that Zoe's point had been made, and that harry would take it into account. Oh well, she could always talk to him another time about it, if she heard nothing else.

* * *

Ruth perched on a desk, chewing her fingernails absently, as she, Malcolm and Sam listened to Zoe's brief. "The Nuclear Authority has an off-the-shelf plan to transport the spent nuke fuel by road on a low-loader, accompanied by its' own security personnel. Convoy is codenamed 'The Stick'."

They all turned to the computer screen, which had a virtual copy of the route to Dover.

"Departs 10pm tonight, arrives Dover 6pm tomorrow. We're tasked with maintaining a rolling threat assessment. This is highly irradiated uranium - travelling halfway across the country. So, if there's so much as a drawing-pin on the inside lane of the M25, I want to know about it."

Ruth looked at up Zoe's next words. "You're the overseer." She was surprised to see Zoe looking straight at her. Zoe smiled at her slightly, before carrying on.

"Ruth will process relevant reports as they come in."

She stood a little straighter, pleased that Zoe was willing to let Ruth have a fair amount of responsibility on her operation.

"This might sound like a routine baby-sitting job, but something as simple as a puncture could mean we all have a really bad day, so... Thank you." Zoe took a breath before walking over to Ruth. "This is a chance to make yourself indispensable in Harry's eyes, alright?" Ruth smiled at her, eyes hopeful as she made her way to her desk, ready to begin. _Bring it on. I'll show Harry that he needs me on this team._

* * *

Sam called across to Zoe and Ruth, who made their way over to her terminal as she began to speak. "They're about ready to go. Nuclear Authority Central Control have been assigned call sign 'Polestar.'"

"Tell Polestar we're ready to go when they are." Zoe was relishing the chance to lead her op as acting Section Chief, and Ruth could completely understand her excitement. She was enthused to be overseeing the operation, reporting straight to Zoe. Hopefully, she was right, and this would be Ruth's chance to get Harry to keep her on at Section D.

"Polestar, this is Thames Side. We're ready to go." Sam spoke into her headset, communicating with those moving the nuclear convoy.

"Copy that," came over the speakers and Zoe turned to Ruth.

"Well. It's just you and me now." She grinned slightly. "Let's show off to Harry."

Ruth grinned. "And they're off!"

Danny came up behind Ruth. "Hardly the Wacky Races is it?" Ruth didn't remove her eyes from the screen, but she felt Zoe turn towards Danny.

Ten minutes later, the team were gathered around Sam's desk as Tom's report came through.

As the report wound up, Harry looked mildly amused. "Is he pissed?"

Zoe made a face. "Tired. Night exercise earlier on in the week, rendezvous with me in the small hours yesterday. Just let him sleep. Excuse me." She picked up her phone as Malcolm caught Harry's attention.

"Curtis' voicebox is pin-protected." Ruth scrunched her nose, she knew that would mean extra work for Malcolm and Colin, who were already up to their necks.

Harry turned. "Get the code from his service provider. Let's be sure."

As Zoe hung up the phone, Ruth saw rather than heard her say 'dammit'. She sat with Sam, but spoke loud enough for Ruth to hear, in order for her to keep on top of things, for which Ruth was grateful. "Dockers are coming out, 7pm tomorrow. Let Polestar know. The Stick needs to stay on schedule or we're back to square one."

"Polestar. Polestar be advised. Industrial action at Dover in less than 20 hours. Vital you maintain schedule."

"Copy that Thames Side. The Stick is making good progress." As the reply came through, Ruth made her way to stand with Zoe to watch the convoy making its way along the road.

"We have to stay on our toes. The Stick has to be put to bed by 6pm tomorrow night." Ruth nodded as Zoe continued. "Sam, you can get off."

* * *

The next morning, Ruth and Zoe were called to Malcolm's desk by Harry. Malcolm was sat at his terminal, explaining what he'd found from his search of Curtis' voicemail inbox. "There were no database matches for the voiceprint. I spoke to Curtis' mobile service provider. The footprint for the call he received came from there; The Stick's starting point."

Ruth nodded, understanding dawning. "Someone in that convoy made a phonecall to Curtis just before they set off last night."

Harry turned to scan The Grid. "Where's Danny? Any word? Redflash him. I want him on the phone, now."

"Hanson told Danny that Curtis offered him a driving job. Who's driving The Stick?" As Zoe spoke, Ruth moved to type at another computer, and was followed by Zoe and Harry. "Personnel records from the Nuclear Authority." She clicked a few buttons as she spoke, bringing up the relevant pages. As the computer worked its magic and a photo popped up, Ruth brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Snap. William Scobey, our missing-presumed-dead team member. He's driving The Stick."

At that moment, Sam told them that Danny's phone was dead. "The Nuclear Authority routinely recruits ex-military as drivers, er, and escorts. Scobey took the job six months ago under an assumed name. His background checked out from top to bottom - including glowing references from a distinguished former colleague." As Ruth spoke she flicked her eyes up to Harry, who fortunately didn't catch her. He seemed to know what she was about to say. "Curtis. Scobey's a plant."

Zoe had put on a headset and was attempting to contact the convoy. "Polestar. Polestar, you have a situation."

* * *

Ruth was stood with Malcolm as the first message came through from Curtis. They both turned slowly to look at the screen, and Ruth had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she listened to Curtis speak.

"This is Major Sam Curtis. I have control of the nuclear transportation, known to you as Stick One. You'll see from your GPS tracker our _exact_ location and you might want to start evacuating the area. Almost five hundred British soldiers have died since the first Gulf War. Cause of death: Gulf War Syndrome. Forty-five thousand service personnel recently went into a second Gulf conflict and we're left with an army that can't fight for at least eighteen months. The authorities expect men to take the same risks again and again. With inferior weapons, minimal life insurance and laughable salaries."

Ruth looked from the screen briefly as Malcolm stood up, his face pale. She glanced after him quizzically but returned her focus to the screen, and Curtis' monologue.

"The full list of the issues I demand the British government address has been faxed to the Chief of Defence Staff."

As Malcolm showed Harry his piece of paper, Ruth realised that he must have a copy of Curtis' list of issues.

"Curtis' ransom note. Compensation and treatment for victims of Gulf War Syndrome... ditto P.T.S.D... 50% pay hike across the board... you can guess the rest." Ruth's eyebrows hit the roof as Malcolm read out some of the demands. His voice was low and irritated, but Harry waved him away as Curtis spoke once more.

"I have been campaigning in every legitimate way possible for years, but Whitehall refuses to take me seriously. So now it's come to this. If my terms are not agreed in the next thirty minutes I'll be transmitting a video tape, from my location via sat-phone to every major Western broadcaster. I don't think I flatter myself that it'll be headline news the second they realise who I am. Especially when they see that I have surrounded a truckload of irradiated uranium with fifty pounds of plastic explosive."

There was silence on The Grid as Curtis' voice filled the room. Ruth looked over to Zoe and Malcolm, alarmed. But Curtis wasn't finished yet. "If my terms are still not met within sixty minutes…" His voice trailed off as the camera panned to a soldier. The team leant forward as one, even though it wouldn't make it any easier to see what the soldier was doing. Once he had the okay from his office, Curtis turned back to the camera, with what Ruth could only describe as an evil smile on his face. "Then south east England will be twinned with Chernobyl. Somebody better get back to me quick. The clock's started ticking."

Once Curtis cut the line, Harry turned to his team. He nodded slightly at Zoe, who turned to Ruth, also nodding. Ruth went to Malcolm's desk, where he was frantically typing away, and picked up the phone to the Counter-Terrorism Team.

She was aware of Zoe briefing Harry as to the perimeter they would be able to establish before Curtis set off the bomb, if their attempts to stop him failed. As Ruth wound up her call, Sam spoke.

"What about Tom and Danny?" The Scot was worried, and rightly so.

"Yes, I know," Harry was rubbing his head, attempting to ease a headache.

Malcolm turned to the four of them. "He can't explode The Stick."

"I'd like to believe that," Harry said.

"I mean - he physically can't. The container is made of titanium steel, it's several feet thick. You can run an express train into it, the train will end up in the scrapyard. It requires specialised tools to open. You don't just pop the lid off with a screwdriver."

Ruth was unconvinced. _Surely Curtis would know this, there must be another plan._

Zoe hit upon the answer. "Those are oil vats. He's not going to bomb the truck - he's going to bomb those. It's a massive oil fire; the whole scene becomes a giant furnace." She turned to Malcolm. "What would that do to uranium?"

Malcolm's voice was shaky as he replied. "It would make it very angry."

* * *

Ruth grabbed the cordless phone from its stand and quickly transferred the call from her desk-line onto it. She ran up to Harry and passed him the cordless. "M.O.D." He grabbed it from her, without thanks; not that she was expecting it, things were far too fraught. Ruth hovered near his shoulder, watching the screen. Before speaking into the phone, Harry glanced backwards. "Sam. Patch me in to The Stick communications. I'll talk to this bastard." He raised the phone Ruth had handed him to his ear, stating his name. He listened for a few seconds, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Without looking at Ruth, he held the phone out behind him. "Keep this line open."

She took it, and checked that the dial tone was on, as Curtis spoke once more.

"You people in MI-5. I know you're listening. I've got two of your men here. They'll each be receiving their very own close-up on international news channels."

Harry spoke into a different phone. "Major Curtis."

Curtis grinned over the screen link. "Identify yourself."

"Are my officers okay?"

"Of course they are, I'm not Genghis Khan."

"Let me speak to them."

"Negative, Mr MI-5."

"We know everything, Major. We even know about William Scobey. So what makes you think we'd put him at the wheel of a genuine consignment of nuclear waste?"

Ruth glanced at Harry. _God, let's hope he knows what he's doing._ Clearly, he did. Curtis had dropped the cocky attitude and was now looking nervous.

"You're bluffing."

The team could hear Tom's voice, and Ruth blew out a breath in relief. She knew Curtis said they were fine, but it was another thing to be able to hear their voices. Harry continued on, regardless.

"Do you want to open Pandora's Box to find out? Blow that site, all you're doing is killing your own men."

"Listen to him. My assignment was to prove your innocence. There's still a way back from this."

It looked as if Curtis was really shaken now. He paced angrily, as the camera followed his movements.

"It appears no-one is taking me seriously." For the first time, the camera shot included Tom and walked over to them, and forced them onto the floor. "If someone doesn't make me an offer in the next five minutes, I'm going to execute a spy." The rest of his sentence was tinny, relying on the camera's inbuilt microphone, rather than the walky-talky Curtis was using for communication. He was taking to Danny and Tom now. "Like me - you get paid to take the risk."

Ruth watched the screen, keeping her emotions under a tight wrap.

"He's losing it." Harry's voice was controlled, unlike Zoe's.

"Harry, can't we call his bluff?"

"Let me talk to the M.O.D." Ruth handed him the phone, quickly. As they watched, Curtis cocked his gun, and re-aimed it at Danny's head. Tom and Danny both tried to reason with Curtis, to no avail. A voice from the Counter-Terrorism Team on site came across a speaker.

"This is Sierra One. I have a shot on primary. Advise. Over."

No-one moved, and Harry didn't even reply to Sierra One. Tom continued trying to talk Curtis down, and Harry was listening to both the person on the other end of the phone, and the conversation between Tom and Curtis, who was still holding Danny at gunpoint.

"Of course. Thank you." Harry handed the phone behind him once more, and Ruth moved to take it from him. "Sierra One link." As Ruth checked the link to the M.O.D once more, Zoe handed Harry another phone. "Sierra One. Green light."

Ruth glanced at him, sharply; surprised.

Curtis was looking around, his gaze challenging, as he spoke. "There isn't a British soldier alive who'd take a shot at me."

At that moment, the snipers on the site fired. Curtis was walked away from the screen and Ruth realised that he didn't want Curtis to have had to die. She shut her eyes briefly as she thought of all the awful decisions he had to make, on an almost daily basis. _How do you balance people's lives for the greater good?_

* * *

A few hours later, Ruth spotted Zoe leaving Harry's office, grinning in her direction. Ruth raised an eyebrow, questioning. Zoe beckoned her over, and spoke mysteriously. "Go and see Harry." She grinned and left Ruth alone, to follow her instructions. Ruth couldn't help but feel a flutter of nerves in her stomach. _She hasn't, has she?!_ _Only one way to find out._ Ruth made her way to Harry's office, and entered without knocking.

"Zoe said to come and see you…?" She let her voice trail off, praying that the hopefulness didn't shine through.

"Yes." Harry was stood by his cabinet, a glass of whisky in his hand, and his face an impenetrable mask. "Good work today, you were invaluable."

Ruth's breath caught in her throat, eyes lighting up. _Come on, Harry, say it..!_

"I'm going to keep you on here, if you would like, as our Intelligence Analyst."

Ruth couldn't help it; she let out an undefinable noise, something somewhere between a yelp and a scream of delight. The next thing she knew she was making her way over to Harry and had grabbed him around his middle, hugging him, mindful of his glass. Before she could think about it, Ruth lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek. Harry froze, his amused grin at her excitement fixed on his face. Ruth stepped back, coming to her senses immediately and almost running from his office, mumbling a thank you over her shoulder. She yanked the door closed behind her, stopping to bang her head on the wall quietly. She lifted two fingers to her lips in shock; unable to explain what possessed her to kiss her boss. _You'll be lucky if he doesn't change his mind now, idiot!_

She sat down at her desk quickly, checking her e-mails. Thankfully, there was a confirmation e-mail, detailing her permanent transfer to MI-5. _Oh thank GOD. At least he'd already processed the paperwork, before I decided to harass him! No going back now._ Inside, the burning embarrassment Ruth had felt was beginning to drain away, and the giddiness at being a proper part of the team was resurfacing.

Zoe caught her eye and smiled; Ruth beamed back.

* * *

It was almost six hours later and the team were all still on The Grid, rejoicing their narrow victory; combining Harry's birthday celebrations into the occasion. Ruth, of course, had her own reason to be excited, and she couldn't wait to tell Tom, and hopefully at some point, she'd find a chance to say thank you to him; for giving her a chance, when she had royally screwed up, in anyone's book.

Everyone had a glass of champagne, and Ruth was chatting near the pods with Zoe and Malcolm as she saw Tom make his way through. She smiled at him as they made their way over to him. "Welcome back." Ruth reached up and kissed him on the cheek briefly, relieved that he had made it home in one piece. Ruth wondered why she didn't feel as awkward kissing Tom as she had felt after she had kissed Harry. The thought made Ruth pause, and she stepped back from Tom quickly, unable to stop herself from glancing towards Harry's office, where the man in question was not hiding the fact that he had been watching her. Instead he caught her eye, and raised his glass. Ruth blushed, hoping that anyone who noticed her red cheeks would blame it on the three glasses of champagne she had already finished.

"How are you doing?" Zoe's voice pulled her back to the conversation, and she saw Tom nod his reply.

"Good, thanks, Zoe."

Ruth couldn't help herself, she blurted out her news. "Harry renewed my secondment!"

"Good for you." Tom nodded slightly, but Ruth noticed his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. _Maybe tonight wasn't the best time to tell him; he's upset._

She smiled at him, trying to let him know she understood. At that moment, she noticed Christine Dale approaching the group. Silently, the three of them walked away, leaving Tom and Christine to talk.

* * *

**There we go! Another update for you! Hope you enjoyed it!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	11. Chapter 11

**2.9**

**Sorry it's been a while since I updated, guys! It's been a crazy week; I've gone back to netballing twice a week, and then we got a surprise attack by OFSTED at work, so that was a couple of late nights! All in all I think I had one free night all week, which my Mum commandeered to watch Breaking Dawn Part 2 with her! (Which, by the way, is pretty good .. for a Twilight movie) I hope I haven't just alienated any of my readers with that!**

* * *

Ruth looked up as she saw Tom striding towards her out of her peripheral vision. She smiled slightly; they'd all heard about his lucky escape that morning and everyone was really thankful that he was alive.

"Tom. So.. um.. everything alright?" She asked, lightly.

"Fine, thanks for asking, Ruth, yes. I need you to do something for me."

"Sure."

"The Chala Cartel couldn't have set up this ambush without collusion." Ruth nodded; she had been thinking the same. "I need you to look at everybody who could have provided them with information."

"It will take a little time."

"Fast as possible," he began to walk away and then paused slightly. "Please," he added, as an afterthought.

Ruth didn't move her eyes from the spot Tom had just left, wondering if he'd heard a word she'd said. After a few seconds, she dropped her eyes, sighing softly.

* * *

Half an hour later, Ruth and the rest of the team were called into the meeting room. As they took their seats, Zoe began.

"The Spanish disco bomb three months ago?"

Danny looked at her, steadily. "The ETA blast that killed thirty teenagers?"

"Except it wasn't ETA," Ruth turned her head sharply towards Zoe. _Well that was kept quiet._ "The blast came immediately after the deportation of two Chala Cartel members to Colombia."

"So we give London to the Chala Cartel, or they turn Bournemouth into Bali." It seemed to Ruth that Tom was overreacting slightly, suggesting that he was more affected by the deaths of those he was on surveillance with than he was letting on.

"Well, you can see the temptation for them. London's got the fastest growing Colombian community outside of Madrid and of course, the hugely lucrative drugs market."

Harry interrupted. "Well we must do something and fast. I just got off the phone to the Home Office. They've authorised additional resources, we must make this our number one priority. He's very jumpy." Ruth looked away from Harry as he spoke, writing notes on the files in front of her.

"And with good reason. If the Chala Cartel had that sort of fire power in Spain, they are certain to have it here."

"We make this _strictly_ need to know from now on. Even the Home Office. Step up the surveillance on Rafa. If we're going to stop them, we have to find their armoury." As he finished speaking, Tom stood from the table, but stopped when Harry said his name.

Ruth gathered her belongings quickly, realising that this was a meeting that no-one else would be privy to. Apparently Harry didn't mind the earwigging of the team, as he began talking before Ruth had managed to make it halfway down the table.

"There's never a right time for these things but…" He trailed off, apparently presuming that Tom would understand his meaning. He was the only one, as Ruth was perplexed.

"I'm dealing with it, Harry," Tom didn't miss a beat.

"You've spoken to Christine?"

Ruth closed the door behind her quickly._ Ah_. _So that's what it's about. Harry can't be happy with inter-agency fraternisation._ She made her way back to her desk, pleased that her instincts about Tom and Christine Dale were correct.

* * *

Ruth brought up the picture they had managed to capture of the car Mariela Hernandez had gotten into after she met Rafa. Harry watched her intently as he spoke.

"So the Bentley belongs to Ross Vaughan, the Finance Director of PETCAL UK. Can anybody tell me why one of our leading oil executives is giving a lift to the girlfriend of one of our leading narcoterrorists?"

Ruth flicked through the surveillance photos, before turning the laptop in front of her around, in order to show Harry the screen.

"This is the infamouse Charla. Provinicial capital of a lawless region. Mountains, jungle, left-wing guerillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug lords, American Special Forces." Ruth flicked her gaze between Harry and Danny, who were glancing between her and the screen.

"Okay, I'll cancel the holiday. What's the link?" Ruth fought the urge to roll her eyes at Harry's jibe but instead took a breath, grateful when Tom stepped in and took up the recitation, to give her a moment to think.

"If you want to build a pipeline from the Colombian oilfields to a sea port, you can't avoid Chala."

"So you need protection," Ruth turned the laptop towards her slightly. "During the 1980s, the most senior PETCAL executive in Colombia was…" she clicked a button and a new picture appeared. "Ross Vaughan." She watched Harry, hoping that her irritation at him didn't show through. After all, she was only trying to give him all the information available about Charla, to complete the background data. _God is in the details, Harry and more often than not, you need the little things to make sense of the big things._

As Harry kept his gaze on the screen, Danny spoke, his voice slow as he connected the dots. "So Rafa and Vaughan are old mates?"

Harry still watched the screen, his eyes not moving once, even as he spoke. "He bought protection from the Chala Cartel and now they're getting protection from him?"

"Another reason why the Chala Cartel see London as a window of opportunity," Tom leant forward so he could see past Ruth, to Zoe. "Zoe, what have we got on the girlfriend?"

"Umm. She only ever goes to the gym. No friends, family, no letters from home. Even does an MBA course by correspondence."

"Stay on her." Tom looked back towards Ruth. "We've got two targets now; she links both of them."

Harry raised a weary eyebrow. "Can we get some tea? Where the hell's Sam?"

"I'll go." Ruth got up, smiling gently at Danny, whose forehead had creased in annoyance, at their boss' blatant disregard for Sam as anything other than a tea-girl.

* * *

Ruth sat, pen at her lips absentmindedly listening to the transcript coming through from the bug Danny had placed in PETCAL. She was glad there weren't many people on The Grid to distract her; it was difficult enough to hold focus as it was, without her attention being grabbed by someone on her end. She was constantly surprised by the technology available to them in MI-5, as there was barely a moment's delay between the recording coming into her terminal, and the translation from Columbian to English appearing in a box next to it on her screen. She kept her eyes on the translation, not wanting to be drawn into an attempt to learn a bit of yet _another_ language when she had a job to do. Her eyes widened slightly as she read a sentence. She pulled her headphones off, grabbed the translated version of the transcript from her printer, checked all the relevant information was there and left her desk, all within a few seconds.

She made her way swiftly to Harry's office, not bothering to knock - _his door is open after all._

"Harry."

"Ruth," he dragged out her name, making it clear he wasn't interested, but she didn't care. _He'll be interested in a minute_, she thought, savagely. "I'm kind.."

She cut him off, shoving the papers under his nose, to make sure he was paying attention. She ignored his exasperated look, reasoning that she had a very good motive for barging in.

"These are transcripts from the room in PETCAL that Danny bugged. You have to read them." He took hold of the sheet Ruth was offering him, and he sat back slightly, taking a deep breath as he read the relevant section.

"Redflash Tom, Danny and Zoe. Make arrangements to bring them in." Ruth nodded, backing away from his desk, a worried, yet triumphant look dancing across her features.

* * *

An hour later, the team were assembled around the meeting room and Tom was pacing up and down.

"The Chala Cartel are going to swap a shipment of drugs for Surface to Air missiles."

Danny's expression was verging on incredulous as Ruth spoke, his tone matching his disbelief at the information. "That's crazy. Why do drug traffickers.."

"There is a precedent." Ruth interrupted, clicking a button on the laptop in front of her, bringing up a picture for the team to see. "When the Colombians cracked down on the drug cartels in the 1990s, it really wasn't advisable to take an internal flight." Ruth watched Danny's face change from doubt to shock as he took in the picture of a plane wreckage on the screen.

"They'd do that here?" Ruth realised he still wasn't completely certain that she was on the right track. Luckily Zoe piped in.

"Well, they incinerated thirty teenagers in Madrid because of two deportations, remember?" Danny nodded slowly as Tom turned back to face them.

"It's how they operate. Leave us alone or we really hurt you."

"So why don't we leave them alone. Why prod the snake?"

"That's a good idea, Ruth. Yeah, that's great. Let's leave everyone alone and give every snake what it wants. Then the world will be one big happy nest of vipers and you can go back to GCHQ."

Ruth dropped her head, unable to believe that Tom was really that angry at her suggestion. _Fuck you, Tom Quinn._ Ruth couldn't stand the awful silence in the room, made worse, as she would not lift her head, to see the others reactions. She therefore had no idea if they agreed with Tom, and also thought that she had suggested something interminably stupid.

"Sorry, Ruth," he almost shouted it across the room. Ruth nodded slightly, but kept her face down and her jaw set, in anger and irritation. _Just because you've been pissed off with the world ever since Curtis was killed, doesn't mean you can take it out on the rest of us, you fucking arse._ Ruth was becoming aware that she swore more than ever in her head these days, but was quite content to put it down to the stress of the job and the effect it had on people. Ruth noticed that Harry's gaze had settled on her, and for once wished he would turn away.

Danny took Tom's words as his cue to try and move the conversation on. "Well, at least we can stop them getting hold of the missiles now." As Danny spoke, a pager bleeped.

"Wrong," said Tom, still in the strained voice he had used to apologise to Ruth. She felt Harry's head turn away from her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him send Tom a confused look.

"Gotta go. Operation Briefcase." Ruth felt a stab of irrational irritation at Zoe, for having a valid excuse to leave the room.

Ruth rolled her pen between her hands as Harry spoke, still keeping her gaze focused on the table and away from the man across from her.

"Why wrong? It won't be difficult to spot where the swap takes place."

"Okay. We intercept the missiles? To use Ruth's analogy," as Tom spoke those words, Ruth's head shot up, anger once again flaring in her eyes. "That's a little bit like grabbing hold of the snake's tail before we've got rid of its venom."

Danny looked across to Ruth. "Does a snake have a tail?"

Ruth raised her eyebrows at Danny, not amused, and feeling slightly like she was the butt of a joke, although she knew that Danny, especially, didn't mean it that way. She shook her head slightly at him, a silent warning that now is not the time to be facetious.

"Well, I'm not going to let the Chala Cartel take control of those missiles. It's too dangerous." Harry glanced to Ruth, whose eyes were wary as she looked at Tom, quickly looking away before he noticed. Somehow, now that she had looked up from the table, it was a little easier to look around without feeling judged. Not by Harry and Danny, at any rate. She still wasn't sure if she was in the clear with Tom. _Not sure if I want to be either._

"It's our only option!" Tom was adamant. "We put a tracker on the missiles. That leads us to the rest of their weapons. We lock down their armoury until we're ready to strike. Come on, Harry. It's not a problem, it's a breakthrough."

"How do we get the tracker on?" Danny sighed, seeing that Tom wasn't going to be swayed from this course of action.

Tom spoke as if it was obvious. "Your man Camilo."

"Masterful. We let a stack of illegal drugs into the country and allow them to be traded by God knows which Eastern European mafia for highly lethal weapons. We can, however, all sleep easy, by coercing a renegade Colombian into sticking a tracker on them for us. I can hardly wait to tell the Home Secretary." Harry's voice was dry and sarcastic as he spoke, bringing a slight smile to Ruth's face.

Tom, however, remains unamused and resolute. "And your plan is what, Harry?"

Ruth's eyes flickered from Danny, to Harry, but she staunchly refused to look at Tom. Harry's expression didn't change on iota, and Ruth got the distinct impression he was having second thoughts about his Section Chief. There was silence for a few moments before Tom stood from the table, his expression victorious, and left the room. Danny stayed in his seat for only a moment longer, before blowing out a breath, exchanging a wide-eyed look with Ruth, and following Tom from the room. As Ruth gathered the laptop and her papers together, she felt Harry's hand on her forearm, stilling her movements.

"Okay?" She didn't meet his gaze, and instead focused on a corner of the page she was holding.

"Yes." Her tone was sharper than she'd intended. She didn't mean to be rude to Harry, but she couldn't stand the understanding, or the pity she thought she heard in his voice.

"Ruth." His voice was imploring, almost asking her to talk to him. Ruth lifted her gaze slowly from her paperwork to Harry's face, pausing momentarily on her arm, where Harry's hand was still resting.

"I'm fine, Harry. Water off a ducks back." She smiled bitterly, knowing that she wasn't fooling herself, let alone Harry. He waited for a few seconds, perhaps waiting for her to say more. When it became apparent that to Ruth, the conversation was over, he squeezed her forearm gently, and patted her softly in the same place as he stood up and left her alone.

Ruth remained in her seat until she could no longer hear his footsteps making their way down the corridor. She got up slowly, delayed as long as possibly before she closed the door behind her and made her way back to her desk.

* * *

"Briefcase passing between Rafa and Vaughan. Take a look at these." Lewis walked in; his hands full of photographs he had managed to take of the contents of the case Mariela had and plonked them down in front of Ruth. He flicked a couple of pages, slowly, watching for Ruth's reaction. On cue, Ruth's eyebrows shot through the roof. "Don't spend it all at once!" Ruth let out a short laugh as Lewis wandered away. She gathered up the pictures and made her way to Harry's office, where, once again she didn't knock. This time, she was pleased to note, Harry didn't bother to chastise her, but gestured her to his side. Ruth laid out the photographs in front of him and pointed out one of them.

"Bearer bonds. Anonymous shares in dummy companies which can be exchanged as easily as cash but not traced. Explains why I've found no dirt on anybody yet." She hoped her frustration at her lack of leads didn't show through in her voice, but as Harry smirked slightly, she realised she had probably failed dismally on that count. _Come on, woman. Where's that mysteriousity you've been practising?!_

"And details of drug pickups. Vaughan uses the huge PETCAL apparatus to help bring the drugs in and then make the money vanish." Harry glanced at Ruth. "How much commission does he charge Rafa?"

"Even 5% of their proceeds is an awful lot of money."

"We must get the girl and use her on Vaughan. Find out who else is implicated in this."

Ruth took a breath, and prepared herself for her second ear-bashing in so many hours. "If this ever got out…"

Harry glanced at her, his expression serious, but she was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't irritated with her. "This will never get out, Ruth. Whatever happens to the Chala Cartel, this will have to be smothered." His voice tailed off into almost a whisper and he exchanged a glance with Ruth. _He likes this just as little as I do._ Ruth's realisation suddenly made her feel a little better about the whole mess, and her part in it. She nodded slightly watching Harry shuffle the papers in front of him, before turning to leave.

* * *

Zoe, Ruth, Harry and Tom were sat around the table, the four of them examining the documents Tessa had given them. _Well, that's not strictly true. To say that she's given them to us implies there's nothing in it for her. _Ruth didn't know much about Tessa, but Harry couldn't stand the woman, and that was enough for her.

"The Chala Cartel were disguised as guerillas." She looked across to Harry. "It's a classic tactic. This is blue chip material."

Zoe sat, still seemingly shocked by the contents of the files before them. "Rafa killed Mariela's family."

Harry spoke, ignoring Zoe's stunned comments. "Tessa's many things, but she's no amateur."

"And then he just took over her life, like she was some sort of war trophy. She was only fifteen."

Tom sighed lightly. "He must have appeared as her saviour at the time." He turned to Ruth, a question in his eyes. "Which makes me wonder if she'll believe all this after so long."

"If we break cover and she doesn't then the whole operation's blown." Harry was more than a little annoyed by their situation and irritation flashed over his face.

Tom nodded, looking down to the files. "We need something else. Something concrete." He studied the pages for a few seconds, while Ruth and Zoe looked at each other, at a loss. Suddenly Tom looked up. "Her father's ring."

Zoe nodded slightly, and Tom looked towards Ruth again. A silent question, one to which Ruth didn't have the answer.

Harry seemed to have come to some decision, and told Tom to do what was needed to get the information. The four of them stood from the table, and made to leave the room.

Before she made it out, Tom grasped Ruth's arm, holding her back from the others. She tuned to face him and was surprised to see that he looked uncertain.

"Ruth. About the other day. I really am sorry. I shouldn't have shouted. I was just getting frustrated about this op, and I took it out on you, which was wrong. I apologise."

Ruth smiled, the first sincere one she had graced him with since he had shouted at her. "It's okay, really." Her eyes softened at she noticed his body relax. She gave him a quick hug before returning to her desk.

* * *

The next day, Tom approached Ruth and looked around before asking if she had any news.

"The leak started in Madrid." Ruth also glanced around, warily. "Umm." She paused as Tom pointed towards Sam passing with papers, telling her wordlessly not to speak while anyone could be in earshot. "The CESID have North African connections, so that's how the Libyans got hold of it." Ruth was sure she wouldn't need to explain to Tom that the CESID were their Spanish counterparts, and was glad to note that he didn't look confused at her use of the acronym.

"But since then? It doesn't make sense, Ruth. Tessa knew _everything_. Who's been feeding her?"  
Ruth felt a momentary flash of panic, and hoped that she was oversensitive from the last few days of tension with Tom, and that he really didn't mean what she thought he meant.

"Tom. I hope you don't think…" Ruth trailed off, her meaning clear. _Please don't tell me you think I'm the leak, not this time._ Tom shook his head slightly, and relief flooded through her.

"No, I don't." He looked at her steadily for a moment. "I don't." Ruth smiled at him, wondering slightly how many times her stint as a mole to Downing Street would come back to bite her in the ass. "But we've got to find out who it is." Tom finished.

Ruth's brow creased slightly. "Talk to Tessa?"

"No. Non-starter. She'd love it. I'd sooner interrogate Hannibal Lecter." Ruth laughed lightly, glad that their relationship wasn't completely ruined.

"Well, we do have a lead. Somebody downloaded files onto a palm top device."

"Follow it up. Work on nothing else."

Ruth looked down, and drew in a breath. _This must have been how Colin felt when he realised he had to find out who was informing to Downing Street. This isn't fun at all, being told to spy on our colleagues._

"Stop the leak before it becomes a flood."

Ruth nodded slightly, and Tom patted her on the shoulder. _Why have people started to pat me suddenly? Have I just acquired the look of a pet who needs attention?!_

Tom and Ruth parted ways and Ruth returned to her desk to get started.

* * *

Three hours later, Ruth once more ran into Harry's office, barely pausing to knock, and definitely not waiting for an answer.

"Where's.. where's Tom?" Her question was directed to the back of Harry's head, as he was stood, gazing out o"f his window. _He must have seen me coming._

"You've been bursting into my office rather a lot lately, Ruth." From his tone, Ruth couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be a reprimand, or something else, so she said nothing, just stared at the back of Harry's head in surprise. She had barely noticed, but not now that she came to think about it, she had been doing an awful lot of running in and out of her Section Head's private office in the last couple of days.

Harry turned his head towards her, his expression amused. "Tom's with the Columbian girl, in the safe house." Ruth nodded, slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be able to speak to Tom right away. She began to back away, quickly.

"I see." Harry turned back to the window and Ruth could see his slight smirk in his reflection.

"Is it something I can help with?" His voice was like butter and it was that, rather than his question, that made Ruth pause.

Ruth bounced a little on her heels, silently debating whether to wait until she could speak to Tom first, but in the end, she realised Harry would be told anyway, she may as well be the one to let him know.

"We've found out who's been leaking to Tessa." _That's caught his attention._ Harry turned to face her once more, his eyes wide and surprised. Ruth's eyes flitted all about Harry, landing somewhere in his middle. For some reason she couldn't look at him. "A palm top, it's a highly sophisticated device and Zoe saw.."

Her boss interrupted her. "Zoe?"

"G.. no! No, it wasn't Zoe," she stuttered, having given up her hopes of not looking Harry in the eye in her haste to absolve Zoe of the blame. "She saw the person at Danny's station about to download material and then Sam said it was … a erm, birthday present, but." Ruth's face betrayed that she really didn't see how Zoe could have fallen for that lie, seasoned spook that she was. Thankfully, Ruth's word vomit was stopped by Harry's gentle voice, cutting through her scrambled thoughts.

"Ruth. Take a deep breath and in one word tell me the name of the mole." This time Ruth was unable to pull her eyes away from Harry's, and his gaze bored into her, awaiting a reply. She watched him silently for a few seconds, calming herself quickly before saying a name.

"Sam."

Whether Harry was surprised by the news, Ruth couldn't tell. His jaw hardened and he turned back towards the glass window of his office, where he and Ruth both watched Sam handing out papers to another member of the team.

"Tell me you're joking?"

As Harry glanced at Ruth, she shook her head sadly. Harry seemed to have nothing further to say on the matter, no to her anyway, and nodded his head to her, in thanks. She took that as her cue to leave, and made a hasty exit towards her desk.

* * *

Harry and Danny were stood behind Ruth's shoulders; the three of them concentrating on the map on Ruth's screen.

"What's the location?" Harry asked.

"It's a field about seven miles out of Folkestone. That blue light is Camilo so the drugs have arrived. They must be making the exchange." Ruth looked at the screen, her forehead creasing with worry. "When he's attached the tracker to the missiles we should see a red light flashing."

"Come on Camilo, you can do this." Danny seemed certain that his faith in Camilo was justified, and that he would be able to complete his task.

"There it is. We've got them." At Harry's words, Danny seemed to relax. _Maybe he wasn't so certain after all._ "Missiles are on their way to the Chala Cartel armoury. Well done, Danny. Your cleaning assignment is over. We're in the endgame with this lot." As Danny grinned, Harry patted the back of Ruth's chair in jubilation, his fingers just brushing the top of Ruth's back; a silent well done for her work. She stayed focused on the screen, monitoring where the missiles were being taken.

* * *

"It was a shame that Vaughan came out of this unscathed." Harry's words did little to settle the uneasy feeling in Ruth's stomach at the outcome of the operation. She couldn't even imagine how Zoe and Tom felt. They were the two who had become close to Mariela over the course of the last week, and to find out that she had been killed because of them and Tessa was too horrible to comprehend.

Harry's words incensed Tom. "It's a shame that someone in the government was protecting him. Who Harry?"

Ruth winced and turned her gaze to the table top.

"I can't disclose that." Harry was stoic.

"So we just sweep it under the carpet?"

"Yes." Harry, as ever, showed no emotion as he answered Tom. "Besides, revelations that one of PETCAL's most senior executives was laundering drug money is hardly the shot in the arm our jittery economy needs right now."

"No, especially not when that senior executive just green lit a substantial donation to the party. Wouldn't look too good."

"I've discussed that with the Home Secretary and the donation will not be accepted. He assured this will be handled at the highest level."

Tom was sceptical. "Forgive me if that doesn't fill me with confidence. They wanted to pretend this was all just a Colombian problem."

"It's a testimony to the success of the operation that we found out about it! Our principal objective was to stop the Chala Cartel. We've done that. They've lost their leader, their weapons, and their support networks."

"And Mariela lost her life."

_Not even Harry can deny that one_. "As I say. We achieved our principal objective." Harry drew in a long breath.

"Now. You're all aware of the .. situation.. with Sam. I've decided to give her a second chance but I want to make one thing clear, now. The next person who breaks the rules, the next person who messes up, the next paperclip that goes astray from this office and you are _out_. Is that clear?"

Harry glared around the table, and Ruth met his eyes steadily, until Tom spoke, his voice bitter.

"Ah. Physician heal thyself."

Ruth, Danny and Zoe exchanged dumbstruck looks as Harry stood from his chair, furious. He strode round the table and came to rest between Ruth and Tom, one hand on the back of Tom's chair; the other flat on the table in front of him. "What did you say." His voice was like ice, and Ruth watched Zoe's face pale as she looked between the two men. Although she couldn't see him, when Tom spoke once more, his tone was calm and controlled, but deathly quiet.

"Do you know what Rafa did to her, Harry?" He paused a moment. "He cut the tendons in her wrists and her feet so she couldn't move and then he stabbed her in such a way that she would bleed very slowly to death. I could do nothing for her."

Zoe had, if possible, gone even paler. "Oh Tom," she breathed. Ruth felt the same anguish as Zoe, both at Mariela's fate, and for Tom, who was the witness to her awful death.

Harry hadn't spoken and Tom's next words made Ruth, Zoe and Danny jump. "I warned you Harry!" His voice was suddenly loud and violent in the silent room.

A quiet sob tore Harry's gaze from Tom, and turned his attention towards Zoe, who was on the verge of tears. Ruth couldn't see his face, but his next words came as a surprise. "I understand that you and Zoe are distressed by the girl's death. Right. That's it for now. Well done everyone."

Ruth didn't believe the meeting room had ever cleared so fast at the end of a meeting before. Zoe, in particular, practically fled from the room, and Danny chased after her. As the three of them reached the relative sanctuary of The Grid, Danny put a comforting arm around Zoe's shoulder, and she turned to him, crying softly. Ruth watched the two of them, and decided to give them some privacy.

She sat down at her desk, and watched as Harry stormed from the meeting room into his office. _Not the best start to another day, but we must go on._

* * *

**There we go, another chapter. Like I said at the beginning, sorry for the delay in this update, guys! I wish I could promise that I'll be a bit more on target with the next chapter, but, you know, best laid plans and all!**

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed it.**

**~LouBelle04~**


	12. Chapter 12

**2.10**

Ruth looked up as Zoe and Danny walked from Harry's office, their faces a mixture of hurt, confusion and irritation. She smiled at them, questioningly, but the two of them just shook their heads dismissively. _Fair enough, I don't think I'd want to talk if I'd just been given a bollocking by Harry, either._ She carried on compiling the threat assessment to send to Downing Street, via Harry, until she noticed the man in question staring at her from his office. When he realised she had spotted him watching her, she was surprised to note that he didn't avert his eyes, but instead beckoned her into his office. She saved her work quickly, and locked her terminal, before making her way over to her boss.

When she entered his office, without knocking (she reasoned that he was expecting her, so to knock would be defeating the purpose of a knock), Harry didn't turn around from his place at the window, and she noticed Tom's file open on his desk. Without thinking, Ruth scanned the file. As she reached half way, she caught herself, and looked over to Harry, quickly, but was relieved to see that he hadn't noticed her perusal of files far above her clearance level. She realised he was far too preoccupied with his thoughts.

Ruth stood waiting for a few moments, but Harry didn't speak. As she began to think that he may have forgotten her presence, she coughed quietly. The man before her turned around, startled, confirming Ruth's suspicions that he'd forgotten she was there. _Either that or he wasn't expecting me to have a problem with being ignored._

"Ah, yes. My apologies. Can you do a bit of digging? Michael Karharias. An American. It would be, ah, useful, if you could keep this to yourself for the time being, too." As he spoke, Harry's eyes didn't move from a spot on Ruth's shoulder, making her slightly uncomfortable with the scrutiny, even though he was sure he wasn't actually _seeing_ her while he was talking.

"Erm, okay? Is it urgent?"

"Not urgent, but important nonetheless."

"Okay, I'll let you know what I find." Ruth turned and was making her way from the room, before she stopped and swivelled around to face Harry once more. "Everything okay, Harry?"

His smile was slightly bitter as he answered her. "Yes, Ruth. Everything is fine."

As Ruth nodded, unconvinced, Harry's phone rang, preventing any further enquiries. She made her way back to her desk, wondering what could be happening that she hadn't been briefed about, and what Michael Karharias had to do with it.

* * *

Ruth spotted him speaking to Sam quietly, his stance tense and wandered over to him. "Ooh, Harry. I've been onto the FBI like you asked me. And this American Criminal?" Ruth glanced up at him, quickly, before looking back to her papers in slight disbelief. "Michael 'The Shark' Karharias - amazing what they call themselves - well he's dead." Harry turned to face her at those words, his face shocked. Ruth continued when it didn't look like Harry was about to say anything. "The FBI had a tip off. His body was found in a storm drain in Miami, three days ago."

"So Tom saw a dead man arrive at Heathrow." Harry didn't remove his eyes from Ruth's, and he would have notice the change in her face as she processed what the information meant for Tom, and the team.

The two of them were silent for a few seconds and then Harry spoke once more. "Come. Now."

Ruth followed her boss without thinking, and was surprised to realise she was being led off The Grid, out of Thames House and down to Parliament Gardens. Ruth paled slightly, as she realised where Harry was heading, and she quashed all the feelings of guilt that she still harboured about her time as a double agent working for Downing Street and Amanda Roke. As Harry sat down at a bench, she wondered whether Harry knew this was the exact same spot she and Tom had sat when Tom told her he would give her another chance in the service. She had felt, and still felt, so grateful to Tom for that second chance, and realised that, since then, she had a sense of unwavering loyalty to him.

Ruth was caught in her thoughts, and had yet to sit down, although Harry had been on the bench for a good minute or so. He looked at her strangely for a moment, but the look passed and Ruth took a seat next to him; closer to Harry than she had been with Tom when they were here. She sensed this was a private moment, which he wished no-one else to hear of, so realised he wouldn't appreciate having to speak loudly across the void between them, as Tom had been happy to do.

Harry took a deep breath, once more returning Ruth to the present, before he spoke. "I think Tom Quinn's on the blink."

She looked away sharply, unwilling to accept the news at face value. "Not Tom."

"He's been running an op on his own, for his own purposes, and I'm having nightmares about what they are." Ruth watched Harry's face as he spoke. She realised he really was worried about this, and that his worry was not just for the country, but also for Tom, and what he was involved in. She reminded herself that Tom and Harry had been working together for a long time, before Ruth had ever set foot inside of Thames House, and that a relationship like that required trust. Abstractly, Ruth hoped that one day, she would have that level of trust in her colleagues, and that they would have that for her in return.

"What are you saying? He's acting against the interests of the service?"

Harry turned back towards Ruth and nodded slightly, looking a little exasperated that he was having to clarify exactly what he meant. Ruth didn't care; she needed to know all the facts. _Analyst by trade, analyst by nature._ "Yes."

"Harry, Tom Quinn is your brightest and best." The two of them were facing each other now, neither looking away, both seeking something in the other's gaze. Ruth, a hint of doubt in Harry's eyes to let her know that it wasn't a forgone conclusion that Tom had gone rogue; and Harry, trying to find a little of the loyalty to himself that he had noticed Ruth held for Tom.

"It's the brightest and the best who can go bad so spectacularly. I saw it happen once before. To a golden young man in Ireland."

Ruth wanted to ask him about it; the man who went rogue in Ireland, but instead kept to the topic at hand. She realised now wasn't the time for Harry to be focusing on the past, but that he needed to be in the here and now in order to save Tom from himself.

"What could possibly make Tom go on the blink?"

"The moral ambiguities of the job?"

"I thought we all rather liked that." Ruth's voice was layered with a hint of a smile, and hint of self-deprecation. She was beginning to think that all of those in MI-5 had some need inside of them to run the line between good and bad; right and wrong.

"Then maybe it's all consuming lust for a Californian." This time it was Harry's turn to mock his own words slightly.

"Yes, lust can destroy the best of us. It nearly did me, once." _Oh shit, Evershed. What was that for? Harry = boss. Boss does not need to know that you can be distracted so easily. Ergo, Harry does not need to know that you can be distracted so easily. Goddamnit Ruth, think before you speak._

"Ah." Harry was speechless and for that, Ruth was grateful.

"Sorry, word vomit." There was a beat, as Ruth wished she could take back the information about her past, and as she wished she could understand what Harry was thinking. She shut her eyes briefly, blocking out everything, before returned to the conversation. She was surprised to find Harry still looking at her, but she continued anyway. "What are you going to do?"

"Issue a warrant for Tom Quinn's arrest." Ruth was almost wishing that she hadn't asked. She stared out across the Thames, deep in thought, until Harry spoke again. "The police will pick him up on an anti-terrorism charge."

"This is going to be so ugly."

Harry turned to look at Ruth, his face lined and etched with worry. "I know," his voice was resigned. "You stand by me on this, Ruth."

Ruth was torn. Between Harry and Tom. The service, or her friend. Her boss, or the man who had saved her career. She suddenly realised that when you work for MI-5, you owe your loyalty to the country, and not to the people within the service. She nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Thank you." There was silence for a few moments, before Harry stood up, and walked away - in the opposite direction to Thames House. Ruth was quietly pleased. Please that Harry had chosen her in whom to confide, and pleased that he had left her alone for the time being, allowing her some time to gather her thoughts and come to terms with the news about Tom.

She stayed sat on the bench for a further ten minutes, unmoving, until she felt the first drops of rain on her face. Ruth made her way back to Thames House, her heart heavy.

* * *

At lunchtime the next day, Ruth found herself sat in a basement somewhere in London with Harry and a bunch of CIA goons, watching Harry question Christine Dale.

"You're not helping us, Miss Dale." Harry was sat hunched forward, clearly unhappy with the turn of events, although even Ruth had realised Christine wouldn't crack as quickly as they would have all liked.

"Why did Tom destroy the telex?"

Christine Dale was sat across from the group, in her usual work attire of a suit, her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. Ruth didn't know what to think about Christine. She had always seemed genuine in her regard for Tom, but now Ruth was unsure.

"I don't know, to protect me." Christine's composure held as she was questioned and Ruth had to admire her nerve.

"Your employers have been enormously helpful. There is no record of any such telex being sent by CIA cland-ops. To anyone." Christine didn't waver. "Nor any record of a satellite intercepted telephone call made from Rihad, Saudi Arabia to Wimbledon, London."

"But, I." At Harry's nod, Ruth interrupted Christine and began to explain the evidence against her.

"The CIA registry does, however, have a record of you _receiving_ a telex. Sent from a commercial firm in Islington. The firm has been traced. Our technical side have retrieved the content of the telex from the firm's database." Ruth spoke confidently, hoping that nobody realised she was hoping against hope that this was all a mistake. She handed the papers to Harry, who stood, walking towards Christine.

"Is this the document that you showed to Tom?"

Ruth watched as Christine scanned the document, her eyes widening as she realised the implications. Ruth almost didn't catch her response, her voice was so quiet, but the tearful nod Christine gave let them know the answer. Ruth felt a pang of sadness for Christine, and she couldn't imagine, from her reaction, that her feelings for Tom were anything but honest.

Harry, however, showed no sympathy. "Please speak up, Miss Dale. This conversation is, of course, being recorded."

"Yes."

Harry handed Christine another sheet of paper. "This man," he paused for Christine to look at the photo and rubbed his eyes. "What have you done? Have you destroyed one of my best men?"

"No!" Christine's voice, even though it shook, was loud.

"What are you? Some kind of old-style honey trap?!" Harry was shouting now, leaning close to Christine, who responded in kind.

"No! I swear!"

One of the CIA men sat with Ruth felt it was time to intervene, leaving the other two to glare at Ruth and Harry. Ruth tried to ignore them the best she could, but she was still unnerved by the feeling of a man, twice her size, focusing his angry gaze on her.

"Mr Pearce." Harry turned to the man, "please honour the parameters we have agreed for this interview or we will terminate."

Ruth was surprised when Christine began to speak once more. "I thought it was wrong we didn't tell you there was an assassin was here. I love your country. And for your mikes in this place I love Tom Quinn."

Ruth felt a pang in her stomach. It was so difficult to be a spy, and a human, it seemed. Love was complicated enough, without adding in a conflict of interest's about national security. She also admired Christine for being able to come out and just say it; that she was in love with someone, especially in the face of someone like Harry, and those from the CIA.

Harry shoved another piece of paper into Christine's view. "Michael Karharias. His body was found in a Miami storm drain, four days ago." Christine shook her head in horror; either realising she had been played, or realising she had been found out, Ruth couldn't decide which. Harry seemed to assume the latter as he continued. "There is no American assassin. There is no.. mystery CIA man." Harry turned towards Christine once more. "Your family's… Czechoslovakian?"

Christine was thrown by the question, as was Ruth. Apparently Harry hadn't deemed it necessary to trust her with this information before dragging her out here.

"What?" Christine's voice had returned to the quiet voice that she had adopted at the beginning of the meeting, although this time it was tinged with hurt and doubt.

"Well not Czech. Slovakian, actually. 'Dale' - originally 'Dallich' wasn't it?"

Christine was still confused. "My grandfather is from Bratislava. What.. what is this?"

"Christine. If you and Tom were planning to flee and hide, please tell me. I still look on Tom as a friend. I'll do everything in my power to help you both."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ruth closed her eyes and looked away. If Christine wasn't about to own up to anything, they were almost back to square one.

Harry's voice reflected the disappointment Ruth felt. "I'm so very sorry that you don't." He walked away from Christine, and turned to speak to one of the CIA men. "Kindly thank your head of station for allowing us to have first bite at the rotten apple." As Harry walked past her, Ruth, who had been watching Christine, gathered her files and followed her boss out of the room.

* * *

Zoe answered the phone and spoke, her voice surprised and loud, when she realised who was on the other end. "Tom!" She waved frantically at Harry and Danny, the former beckoning Ruth and Malcolm to follow. "Where are you?" Zoe asked him. "Tom. It's Zoe." As Malcolm sat down at a computer to trace the signal, Harry, Danny and Ruth grabbed headsets in order to listen to the conversation. Tom was mid speech as they tuned in.

"… the assassination will be tried in Ipswich." There was silence, as the group on The Grid glanced at each other. "There will be a sniper rifle left at the scene. It's a Hungarian Gepard M1. It'll have my fingerprints on it."

"Listen, Tom. We know about the assassination."

Tom sounded confused by Zoe's news. "What do you mean? Zoe, what do you mean?"

There was silence from Tom as the echo of a news report came down the phone line. Everyone shared another glance, confused at the turn of events. _Why would Tom ring to tell us of the assassination attempt after it had happened?_ Suddenly Ruth caught what the news reader was saying. _Perhaps Tom didn't know. Maybe he didn't do it!_

"Er, Zoe. I.. I've just heard… How is he?"

Zoe looked at Harry, who nodded at her. "Well he's.. he's dead, Tom." Zoe looked at Ruth, her expression still bewildered. "He died about twenty minutes ago."

There was another, long silence, as nobody was willing to speak on The Grid, in case they were overheard by Tom.

"Right. You listen to me. I have been set up. The man behind it is ex-CIA. His name is Hermann Joyce. I recruited his daughter, Lisa, to penetrate one of the cells of the Neo Red Brigade. She went to pieces. He blames me. You understand?"

"Hermann Joyce?" Zoe questioned, as Harry removed his headset slightly, whispering over Zoe's head.

"Ruth, check it out." She nodded and removed her headset quietly, as Sam came running over to Harry. As Ruth made her way to her desk, she heard Sam mention Downing Street.

* * *

Ruth walked over to Danny and Zoe waving papers at them. "Tom's file. Now, he _did_ recruit a girl. Lisa Joyce. She didn't work out."

Danny looked over the files quickly. "There's one part of his story that's true."

As Harry grabbed the files from Danny, Ruth spoke. "I'll ask the CIA about Joyce."

Harry spoke as Ruth walked away. "We're picking Tom up."

Ruth was talking on the phone, becoming more and more irritated with every word the person on the other end said. She called across to Harry. "The CIA won't tell us anything about Hermann Joyce."

"Then hack into their database. I must know about him."

"Their firewalls will be massive…" Ruth was pleased to have such a challenge; hacking into the CIA wasn't an everyday part of her job at MI-5.

"Call us on the scrambler when you get something." Harry shouted to Ruth over his shoulder as her walked to the pods with Danny and Zoe. She nodded, even though she knew nobody, except maybe Malcolm would see. _God, how did this turn into such a mess, so quickly._

* * *

Ruth picked up the phone to call Harry, her breath shaky, and tears in her eyes. "Yes?" came the abrupt answer.

"Joyce.. Died. Five years ago. Car crash. His wife was with him; I've got her on the phone. Joyce can't have met Tom, Harry." She whispered the last sentence, still unwilling to believe it. A smidgen of doubt niggled at her. She was unable to understand why Tom had told them he'd met a dead man, when he knew it would only take a bit of digging to find out the truth. _It just doesn't make sense._ Ruth realised the rest of the facts were all steadfast, and they all pointed to Tom's guilt. _As they would if he were being set up by Joyce, like he said he was. But a dead man can't set anyone up._

Harry's gruff voice was tired and to the point. "Very well. Thank you, Ruth. Put us through to Joyce's widow." She did so, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.

* * *

"Ruth. He shot him. He just point blank shot him, and ran." Zoe's voice came through the phone, horrified.

Ruth burst into tears, putting the phone down on Zoe as a sob forced its way through her pretence of calm. She couldn't believe that Tom would do such a thing, and she couldn't believe that Harry had been shot. Ruth couldn't decide whether her tears were for Tom, or for Harry, and realised it was probably a mixture of both. There was no doubt in her mind anymore that Tom had set the entire thing up himself, and that he had planned the assassination, and to run away with Christine.

Ten minutes later, and Ruth still hadn't moved from her shocked position at her desk. Malcolm shouted across The Grid that a pair of shoes had been found on the beach, near to where Harry had been shot. The police were there now, but Zoe and Danny should get down there. "Ruth, can you phone them?"

She nodded through her tears and picked up the phone once more. "Danny? Shoes on the beach, possibly Tom's."

"On the beach?" came the reply.

Ruth nodded and then realised Danny couldn't see her. "Yeah. It's a mile away. Police are there, but you and Zoe should go too."

"Okay."

They both hung up, without saying goodbye.

Ruth tears started to fall once more, and she wiped her nose, and she took in some shaky breaths. _Oh, Tom._ _Oh, Harry._

* * *

**Well, there we go. That's Series 2 completed. I hope it's been okay, and I'm SO sorry for the horrible delay between this chapter and the last! I know it's quite a short one, but Ruth literally doesn't come into this episode until half way through the script, and in the interest of not changing too much of the story, I didn't want to add too much non-canon stuff in.**

**~LouBelle04~**


	13. Chapter 13

**3.1**

Ruth was feeling mildly calmer now that Zoe had let her know that Tom hadn't killed Harry, and she only looked up from her desk as men in suits stormed their way through the pods. The men began to rifle through the files on the desks nearest to them. Everyone was in uproar, and looking at each other in confusion.

Ruth picked up her phone quickly, and dialled Zoe's number.

"You and Danny had better get back here. Special Branch plods are turning the place over."

"What? On who's authority?!" Zoe was outraged, but Ruth could only just hear her over the furore on The Grid. Malcolm, Sam and Colin were shouting at people left, right and centre, in a vain attempt to stop the men who had forced their way into Section D.

"They say the Joint Intelligence Committee have launched an investigation. But can the JIC do that, so fast?" Ruth glanced around, noticing that Special Branch hadn't made it to her desk yet. _Thank God. Hopefully I can hide some things that they shouldn't see before they get to me._

"Ruth. Tell Harry."

Ruth looked about once more and felt her heart fall into her shoes at the sight of the man who had just stepped onto The Grid. Ruth had no doubt that he would make a beeline for her; her being the only member of the team who wasn't in an absolute panic, and her being the only one on the phone.

"Ruth?"

"Oh no. The Chairman of the JIC just walked in," Ruth could sense the man getting closer to her, and screwed up her face, quickly thinking of a plan. "Listen. Doghouse. Now."

At that moment, the phone was pulled from her hand by Oliver Mace. Ruth offered no resistance as Mace started to speak, loudly; addressing the whole room.

"No more phonecalls, please. I'm launching an investigation. Sanctioned by Downing Street," Mace was stood directly in front of Ruth, but had turned to face the rest of the staff of Section D, fortunately missing the angry glare that was being focused on him, by Ruth. "So you're all suspended."

"Suspended?" Ruth was furious. _How can they just suspend an entire section? On what grounds, you wanker?_ Ruth had never met Oliver Mace before, but had heard all about him from various sources. None of the stories she had heard portrayed him in a good light, and having done some research into his, Ruth had to agree that there were few people in the Security Services more odious than the man stood before her.

Mace turned back to Ruth at her words, and he lowered his voice, speaking only to her, and not even trying to hide the glee from his tone. "This is going to be something of a blood bath." He grinned at her briefly, before walking away, and watching the team as they gathered their belongings before leaving through the pods.

Thankfully, everyone was loitering in the cloakroom, so Ruth was able to get the message about Doghouse to them all, and remind them to look out for any tails they might pick up outside of the building. She couldn't imagine Mace wouldn't put at least rudimentary surveillance on the lot of them, to try to ensure they were unable to keep in contact, as protocol demanded they didn't.

* * *

Ruth was mindful that she needed to get a message to Harry, as Zoe had told her. Thankfully, she had checked which hospital Harry was being transported to, before The Grid was ransacked by Mace and his Special Branch goons.

She walked down the corridor of North End Hospital quickly, having lost one of her tails by using an old taxi trick, which thankfully was almost impossible to trace, unless you knew what you were doing, which she doubted the man following her did. Annoyingly, the other one had managed to stick with her, and for some reason was following her slowly, from a distance, as though he knew her plan, and knew it wouldn't work.

Ruth peered through the window of the room she had been told and was slightly relieved to see Harry, alive and in the flesh, although he was clearly in some pain. Zoe had told her that he would be okay, but she hadn't truly believed it until she had seen him with her own eyes. She tried the door handle, and was frustrated and horrified to realise it was locked. _How can you just lock someone who's been shot away?_

A man crept up behind Ruth, startling her slightly. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Er, I've come to see, um.. Mr.. Mr Pearce." She flashed her security services ID at him, hoping against all hope that she would be granted access to Harry. Not only was she conscious of needing to relay the happenings on The Grid to him, but she also felt awful for him, and wanted to speak to him; to offer him some small comfort after his ordeal.

Her hopes were dashed as the man shook his head. "Sorry. No visitors."

"This is ridiculous, he's my boss." She glanced over to Harry, wondering whether he was aware of her, outside his door, but he was still lying in his bed, sleeping restlessly. Ruth tried to push the door once more, knowing that nothing would happen, but unable to leave without trying, but the man stood in her way, threateningly. Ruth rolled her eyes, backing away with her hands up, in a gesture of surrender.

She made her way back down the corridor and down a flight of stairs until she spotted a nurse. "Excuse me, can I talk to you?"

"Sorry?"

"It's about Mr Pearce."

The nurse crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "They say he's a spy." _Apparently she doesn't believe it then._

"He is." Ruth noticed the nurse stand up a little straighter, surprised, but carried on regardless. "The thing is I work for him. And I'm in love with him. And they won't let me see him." _Oh God, I hope nobody ever finds out I said this. _"Could you… give him a note?"

The nurse shook her head as Ruth pulled out a notebook. "I don't think so." Ruth made sure she held out the £50 note clearly.

"I mean, I'll write it." Ruth scribbled out a message in Morse Code on the notepad, but a movement from the nurse pulled her focus back up.

"No, sorry." She shook her head again.

Ruth's insides crashed. _Shit. Time to bring out the big one._

"I'm..." she took a breath. "Having his child." Ruth put on her most wounded and desperate face and hoped against all hope that this would work. She had no other plans if this one failed.

The nurse shut her eyes and sighed briefly but didn't say no again, so Ruth felt a flicker of hope.

"Okay." Ruth felt the breath leave her body at that one word. _Thank God._

She ripped the note off the pad, and handed it to the nurse, who said she would take it into Harry with his dinner. Ruth was grateful that not many people could understand Morse Code, and was relying on this to keep her note to Harry safe, and secret. _I'm sure he does, but if Harry doesn't understand it, we're screwed. Of course he'll know it, Ruth, he's an old style spy. _Ruth thanked the woman before her profusely and left, stoking her stomach to keep her story going until she was out of the view of the nurse.

As Ruth made her way back down the stairs, she noticed her tail following her once more. She hadn't noticed him whilst she had been talking to the nurse, so realised he must have hung back to ensure she didn't try and get a nurse to let her in to see Harry. Deciding to be cheeky, Ruth blew a quick kiss to him; her entire manner sarcastic. The man scowled back at her before Ruth slipped through a side door.

* * *

Ruth spotted the others approaching from various corners as she walked into Heron Quays station, quickly glancing behind her to ensure no other tails had picked her up after she'd lost the last one. She jogged the last few steps as she noticed Malcolm running to join Zoe, Danny and Sam.

"So, did we all shake our tails?" Zoe looked between them all as she spoke.

"They had three on me." Malcolm sounded slightly proud that they apparently believed him worthy of three tails.

"Had to do the taxi trick. Lost the other one at the hospital though."

Sam grinned. "Biked all over."

Zoe kept glancing around the edges of the station as Danny spoke. "So. The chairman of the JIC is stomping around Thames House going through all our files, down to old apple cores in our desks. And we've got to sneak off here just to talk! I mean what the hell is going on?"

Zoe leant towards Ruth. "What's Oliver Mace doing?"

Before Ruth could answer, Sam spoke up. "Maybe he thinks you all helped Tom."

Personally, Ruth thought Sam could be onto something, but Zoe didn't seem to agree. "That's really stupid, Sam." The Scot moved back slightly at the vehemence of Zoe's tone, and Ruth couldn't help but feel for her. She did seem to get the brunt of Zoe's moods from time to time. Thankfully Danny piped up in Sam's defence, relieving Ruth of the task.

"Maybe not stupid. Maybe that's what this is about. What do we know about Oliver Mace? Has he ever done any real spying?"

Zoe took a breath. "MI-6, before he crossed over to JIC." Ruth nodded at Zoe, confirming her words. "Reputation as a desk spook."

Danny groaned. "Oh no, the worst." _Hey!_ _We're not that bad!_ Although she did have to agree that the higher ups who had never really been on the front line of spying did seem to be the worst ones for imposing ridiculous strategies to fight terrorism.

Zoe continued, ignoring Danny. "I also heard he's got a hidden past as a quizmaster. Northern Ireland."

Ruth spoke up. "I heard worse. He steps over the line. When he was in Kosova three Serb agents died in detention. Now, he's a very dangerous man."

"He's also treating us like traitors." Zoe was not happy. "Suspending us, having us followed."

"I smell the stench of _deep_ politics." Ruth was just as unhappy as Zoe. She couldn't believe how they were all being treated.

Zoe moved the discussion back to the topic. "The question is, what do we do about him?"

Danny spoke. "Tail him. Get some dirt on him."

Ruth shook her head. "He's untouchable. We'd never get near him."

Danny grinned. "Then we take his big stick away."

All heads turned to Danny. Zoe raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Danny looked around as if the answer was obvious. "Prove Tom was innocent." Ruth just about managed to stop her mouth from dropping open. _How, when he's clearly guilty? He shot Harry, our _boss_, for Christ sakes._

Zoe seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Yeah, but he wasn't. I mean, God forgive me, but he wasn't. I mean, he's accused of murder; treason. He shot Harry trying to get away."

Danny seemed to still believe in Tom, regardless, and he spoke loudly; angrily. "We don't know why he shot Harry, really. I think we speak to Christine Dale. Maybe Tom talked to her."

Ruth was distracted by Danny's words by a man shouting somewhere near. As Sam begin to speak, the man approached them. Malcolm rolled his eyes and spoke.

"Would you please go _away._"

The man was wearing a baseball cap and a large waterproof coat. "Can you gimme some change." He had a broad accent, but Ruth couldn't place where he was from. Ruth and Sam looked carefully away from the man as Zoe, Danny and Malcolm tried to get rid of him. Suddenly the man dropped his accent and spoke urgently. "Sam, you've got a tracking device on you. Get rid and get out now." The team looked at each other, flabbergasted. _Who is this guy?!_ "I bet there's one on your bike as well."

Sam gasped as she realised the implications of the man's words. Ruth began patting her down to find the tracker, while Danny and Malcolm checked the bike. Sam kept apologising to them all, but they were too panicked to take notice of her words. Zoe was watching the man, who was walking away, accent back in place, and checked for any approaching unfriendlies.

"Danny, have you got it?" She asked.

Sam shouted out. "I've got it. I've got it!"

She handed it to Malcolm who lobbed it into a corner. Danny grabbed Sam's bike. "Everyone move. Go."

Malcolm and Sam went off in one direction; Sam on her bike, now that they had removed the tracker and Ruth walked back the same way she had come, followed by Zoe. "Who the hell was that?"

"Guardian angel?" Ruth looked around, and noticed Danny was catching up with them. As one, the three began to run, passing the man who had warned them about the trackers as they did so. As they rounded the corner, they heard somebody speaking into a radio. "Not here. I repeat not here."

_Thank God._

As they reached the main road, Ruth nodded at Danny and Zoe before crossing and walking in the opposite direction, planning to catch a bus back home, and possibly have a glass of wine to calm her nerves after their near miss.

* * *

Not five minutes after Ruth had closed her front door and sunk into the sofa, her phone rang. Zoe had received a message from Oliver Mace telling her she was wanted on The Grid, and had called Ruth and the others to let them know. Ten minutes after she had finished speaking to Zoe, Ruth also received a message telling her in no uncertain terms she was required on The Grid immediately.

She thought about ringing Danny, to see if he had been summoned, but realised that if they wanted to see _her_, they would most definitely have already called Danny in. Then she should about trying once more to get in to see Harry. She needed to talk to him, explain what was happening properly. Harry would know what to do. She phoned the hospital, but was informed that Mr Pearce was unavailable at that time. Ruth took a breath and realised there was only one thing for it; to head into Thames House. She grabbed a fresh white shirt, realising she had been wearing the same top for almost two days, and stuffed it into her bag, planning to swap her shirts once she had established what was happening on The Grid.

* * *

After being escorted from the security desk to the pods by Special Branch officers, Ruth was stood with the rest of the team, around Malcolm's desk, where everyone except her was looking through the meeting room window, watching Zoe be interrogated by Mace. Ruth decided to keep an eye on the men in Harry's office; she was sure there were things in there which it wouldn't do for Special Branch to see; and anyway, it was just wrong to see someone other than Harry sat at the desk.

Suddenly Danny stormed away from the group and into the meeting room. Sam and Ruth looked at one another, nervously. _Do we follow? _She looked at Malcolm, asking her question silently, but he shook his head. 'Wait' he seemed to say.

The pods whirred open and Ruth was worried, and a little pleased to see Harry stood there. _He's only been in hospital for a day! How can he have discharged himself so quickly, after being _SHOT?! _Stupid man._

As the team stared at Harry, Ruth did a quick stock take. He looked much like himself, although a little worse for wear -_ but that's to be expected, of course. _His suit was clean, although he wasn't wearing a tie. Ruth supposed it was just too difficult to dress as usual with one available hand.

Harry's mouth quirked into a half smile as he walked past the team, not one of whom had spoken since his arrival. He nodded in thanks at Ruth, for the note and walked into the meeting room, leaving his team, still stunned on the main part of The Grid.

Now that Harry was here, Ruth thought it was about time she changed her top, so made her excuses to the team, and nipped along to the toilets. As she arrived back, Harry was having a discussion with Oliver Mace in his office, whilst the entire staff - both Section D and Special Branch - watched. _This can't be good for him. He must be on so many painkillers._ She wandered over to her desk, dumping her bag, and watched as Mace and his cronies left The Grid. Harry dropped into his sofa and with his good arm, pulled the blinds to. It seemed to be an unspoken, but unanimous decision that he was not to be disturbed. He would come to them when he was good and ready.

* * *

Harry left the sanctuary of his office about an hour later, and Ruth was worried to note that he winced with every slight movement.

"Well done on getting me the note, Ruth. Morse Code. A nice touch." Harry attempted a smile at her, but it turned, once more, into a grimace of pain.

Danny, seemingly oblivious to Harry's discomfort jumped straight in to the questions. "What's going on, Harry?"

"Yes, at the station, there was this tramp." Malcolm spoke up, but he was ignored.

Harry turned slightly towards the pods as they opened, and his face screwed up in a grimace of pain. Only Ruth noticed. Or maybe no-one else dared to say anything to their esteemed leader, when he was clearly in pain. "Harry.." she spoke. She wanted to tell him to go home, or better yet, go back to hospital, but he cut her off with an irritated 'yes, Ruth.' _So he knows he shouldn't be here._ _Maybe I should speak to him about it when nobody else is around, I suppose reproaching the boss when his staff are gathered around him isn't the best idea…_

"Adam. You come most presently upon your hour." Harry was focused on someone behind Danny and Zoe, but Ruth was distracted by Harry's butchering of Hamlet, and only turned towards the stranger when she heard Zoe's noise of surprise.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to your vagrant."

"Alright?" said vagrant grinned at the team. "How you doing?" Ruth briefly scanned the man in front of the team, uncertain about the appearance of this new, grinning, stranger and what it meant for their team.

"This is Adam Carter." As Harry spoke, Malcolm stood up, slowly. "I bulldozed a few rules and seconded Adam from 6 to help us sort of out this mess." _So this is what Harry was doing on the phone for the hour in his office._

"Yeah, well." Adam scratched his face. "Er, we've got one hell of a situation here, _but_ there's a neat way to get the gremlins off our backs." Ruth noticed that he included himself as a member of the team as he spoke. _So, he's either here permanently, or for a good while._

"Oh yeah, what's that?" As Zoe spoke, Ruth realised that her colleague wasn't happy about the introduction of this new, _handsome,_ man. _Ruth! Don't think that. Don't think that._

"We prove Tom Quinn was innocent."

"Yes." Danny pointed at Adam, pleased, as Ruth turned to look at the other members of the team, and tried to figure out what they thought about the new guy. For the most part, they looked surprised at the confidence of Adam, and how quickly he had taken control and told the team what they had to do.

"I'm sorry about this, but it looks like we're in for an all-nighter. We're gonna need a _heap_ of sandwiches, coffee, tea."

Sam looked up. "I'll get them. I mean. I don't have to. I don't get the tea, usually."

"Thanks, Sam." Adam smiled softly at Sam. _So, apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the new guy is a looker._ As Sam walked past Adam he spoke again."Not still bugged are you?"

Sam turned. "What?" Adam grinned. "Oh. No." With that, she walked away.

By this point, most of the team had dispersed, but Ruth was hovering by a desk as Zoe made her way towards the cloakroom, only pausing as she passed Adam. "He wasn't innocent though, was he."

Ruth started slightly as Adam took hold of Zoe's arm as she tried to walk away, but she was too far from the pair of them to hear what was being said. For her own peace of mind, she kept an eye on them, positioning herself between Danny and Malcolm and watching unobtrusively. Thankfully, nothing came of it, and Adam let Zoe's arm go, and she walked away.

* * *

Hours later, it was nearing midnight, and the team were gathered around a bunch of tables which had been pushed together and were now cluttered with trays of sandwiches and gallons of tea and coffee. Zoe and Adam had their feet up on the table and Zoe was pulling a sandwich to pieces as she spoke.

"We're going round and round in circles. He shot Harry."

Danny, with the air of saying some much repeated, spoke. "Yeah, but he was facing arrest for treason, with zero chance of proving his innocence." As Danny spoke, Ruth noticed Harry appear silently from his office, listening to their discussion. His stance seemed to Ruth that he wasn't any more comfortable than he was earlier in the day, and he was holding his left elbow gingerly. "He had to escape. I mean, if it had been me, I'd have pulled the trigger."

Ruth registered Danny's words with slight horror as Zoe noticed Harry too, and her eyes widened. Danny froze, turning in dismay. Harry glared at Danny. The only person around the table who didn't seem perturbed by Harry's appearance and Danny's words was Adam, who didn't even turn around as he addressed their boss.

"What about you, Harry? If you were in Tom's position, would you have shot you?"

If it weren't so tense, Ruth would have laughed at the casualness with which Adam spoke. _I think I could really get to like this guy._ Harry, apparently, didn't find it so funny, and turned away with a sigh.

"I don't want him to be guilty." It sounded as though Zoe was just going through the motions of a defence for Tom. As Zoe spoke, Ruth didn't take her eyes from Harry's back, and she realised that her worry for their boss was probably written across her face for anyone to see. Luckily, everyone else was focused on the sandwiches. Except for Adam, Ruth realised, who had been watching her curiously.

"Right, let's take a break." He spoke, as he stood from the table.

Ruth looked over to Zoe, raising an eyebrow, and rolling her eyes humorously, as Danny followed Adam out into the corridor.

* * *

Adam was sending the team home two at a time for a shower and a few hours' sleep, and by half eleven, it was Ruth and Sam's turns. She was grateful to head home, even if it was only until half past three, when it would be Danny and Zoe's go at recharging their batteries. Ruth had fallen straight into bed when she had got home, only pausing to feed her cats and remove her shoes. She had set her alarm for 2.30am, so that she had enough time for a shower before heading back to The Grid. Unfortunately, she was woken by her phone ringing at barely 12.30. It was Malcolm, calling her back in to work. Hermann Joyce's body had been dumped outside Thames House and she was needed back at base. Malcolm asked her to go into the Registry on her way up to The Grid and ask them to get her a copy of the CIA video of Joyce's funeral. She told Malcolm she'd be less than an hour, and groaned as she put the phone down. She decided to forego her shower in place of a quick wash with a flannel and dressed quickly, not bothering to pay attention to what she was actually putting on. As she rushed to the door, she woke Fidget, who looked at her in that reproving way cats have, before falling back to sleep almost immediately.

* * *

Ruth had settled back into work quickly, waving off an apology from Adam about bringing her back in and getting to work on discovering how they could have missed that Joyce was alive until recently, when his funeral had been five years ago.

After a couple of hours of searching, Ruth hit print on her computer, and made her way to Adam and Zoe, with two photographs. The first one showed Hermann Joyce holding an automatic weapon and grinning.

"Taken during the First Iraqi War." Ruth yawned as she spoke.

Ruth passed the second photograph, a shot of Joyce's wife, to Zoe. "Let's have a look at the widow who wasn't." Adam grinned. "Have the Registry come up with the CIA video yet?"

"Yeah, I'll go get it, it's on my desk."

"Thanks. Go and get a few hours of sleep, there's not much to do until we work this out now and you weren't at home long enough to power up." Ruth shook her head at Adam as Zoe wandered over to Danny. "I'm fine, I can do a bit of digging about. We're all in the same boat." Adam nodded and made walked with Ruth to her desk, where she handed him a disk with the video from the CIA.

* * *

It was nearly 5am when Ruth's phone rang. She had asked security to give her a call if Oliver Mace or the like turned up downstairs, and Geoff, the man on the desk this morning, had seen him less than a minute ago. When she had asked him for the favour, Geoff had winked at her and spoken in his jolly accent 'right you are, Miss Evershed.' He never would call her Ruth, no matter how many times she asked him.

Ruth walked into the meeting room where Adam, Harry, Zoe and Danny were, after their early morning call about Hermann Joyce's body being dumped out in front of the building. She pulled the door open, and was concerned to see Harry's eyes closed. He must have been here for hours, and he didn't look as if he had had much sleep the night before.

"Harry? Oliver Mace is on his way up."

* * *

Mace and Harry had been in the office for a while, when Ruth heard raised voices ring across The Grid. The others followed her from the kitchen, Ruth watching Harry nervously. _All this can't be good for him. His arm must be hurting so much! _Sometime during their night on The Grid, Ruth had gotten fed up of seeing Harry wince in pain every single time he moved his upper half, and had suggested he take the painkillers he had been prescribed. Harry had merely raised his glass of whisky at her and pointed out that she had work to do, before quietly thanking her for her concern, but telling her he needed his head clear if he were to stand any chance of stopping Mace's games. Ruth had nodded sadly and told him to take it easy, before leaving the room. As she left, she thought she had heard him say that he would, but put it down to wishful thinking. Harry wasn't the type to take advice from others, especially not his junior officers.

As Mace to look out of the glass windows of Harry's office, he must have spotted Adam, because he suddenly turned back to Harry, furiously. "What's Adam Carter doing here?!"

The entire team heard Mace's voice and Ruth saw Adam's shoulders twitch slightly.

"Carter's a loose cannon. You know his reputation." At that, Adam turned behind him, raising his eyebrows at Ruth, Zoe and Danny and taking a mock bow, grinning.

* * *

The next day, the field officers were out attempting to take Carmen Joyce in for questioning, but were scuppered by the Special Branch officers who were also there. Carmen Joyce had made her way from the building and got into a taxi out the front. Everyone was in a panic, until Ruth received a message.

She ran into Harry's office, grinning, barging past Malcolm and making her way to Harry's computer. "She's in one of our cabs!"

Harry looked at Malcolm, confused. "What cabs?"

Ruth pressed a button on Harry's computer to access the live feed of the taxi. "We had a Spook-Taxi outside the hotel. Carmen hired it."

"Spook-Taxi?" Harry was still none the wiser as he looked to Ruth for answers.

"Er.. I… I.. I… I've been recruiting taxi drivers." Harry rolled his eyes, turning back to face the screen, and Ruth hurried to explain; her boss didn't look pleased with her. "It's cheaper than having our own cars. Should I have.. cleared that with…?" She trailed off, her face a picture of anxiety.

Harry sighed, an air of long suffering about him. "No. Initiative." Ruth nodded, relieved.

"The driver texted me; they're, they're on their way to something called The New Concord in Peckham."

"This could be a hornet's nest. Full back up. Now." Malcolm left to go and call the team and Harry turned to face Ruth. "Well done. Good work." As she reached her desk, Malcolm, on the phone to Danny, smiled at her and Ruth grinned back, trying to hide her pleasure.

* * *

After Carmen Joyce had killed herself, thanks to Adam, everybody had returned to The Grid and Ruth was finding it very strange; glancing between Tom and Adam, warily. Adam was of the same rank as Tom, and Ruth couldn't imagine that Tom would take too kindly to having someone of equal rank on the team, with him. Ruth got the feeling that he liked knowing the teams loyalty was with him, and only him. _Especially now, after we all doubted him for so long._ _How could I have thought Tom had gone rogue? Well, shooting Harry definitely didn't help his 'I'm innocent' image. I do feel guilty though. But, Harry asked me to stick by him, and stick by him, I will._ Tom and Adam had apparently had a bit of a bust up outside the obbo van, and Harry had had to intervene. Sending one last furtive glance back at Tom and Adam, Ruth wandered over to the meeting room, where Harry was sat with a plethora of files open in front of him. She walked through the half open door without knocking.

"Go home, Harry. Everything's under control."

As Ruth thought, Harry had zoned out, and her voice had made him jump. "Once again, I'm fine Ruth."

"Harry, you need to sleep. You haven't stopped since you left hospital. Too early, and against advice, I might add."

"Ruth…" His tone was warning. "Have you been checking up on me?"

"No! Well, sort … I just happened upon the Thames House doctor who mentioned that you shouldn't be here, really."

"Ruth." This time his tone was bordering on vexed. "I am fine." At that moment Harry turned to face her, and his injured arm knocked into the chair, causing him to freeze.

Ruth started towards him, and collected up the files. "You don't look it to me, Harry."

Harry's voice was strained at he spoke through the pain. "Nothing that a whisky won't solve. Thank you, Ruth." It was a clear dismissal, and Ruth nodded sadly, but kept a hold of the files she was holding as she left the room.

* * *

**So! That's that done. I've been gushing over this episode on Facebook at everyone in 3 Words, 8 Letters. Harry's hair looks great, Danny's pretty, Tom looks totally fit as a homeless guy with stubble and what else can be said about Adam except phwoar? This is probably one of my favourite episodes I've written so far, just because of all the eye candy I've had to suffer through whilst writing! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'm so sorry it's been ages since my last update! The Easter holidays have been busier than I expected so far!**

**Oh yes, as the ladies over a 3W, 8L will know, I wasn't sure whether Harry had been shot in the shoulder, or in the left arm. From the DVD's, it looks as if Tom shoots his arm. Unfortunately, there are so many continuity errors to do with this, which make it much more difficult than it needs to be, when writing! But - back to my point - I've decided to go with the idea that Harry was shot in the left arm, and that he was exaggerating to Tom, when he speaks to him on the phone, in an attempt to make him feel guilty (something which isn't included in here, as Ruth is not present at the Natural History Museum).**

**~LouBelle04~**


	14. Chapter 14

**3.2**

Ruth had been monitoring the traffic to and from the website that Malcolm and Colin had set up detailing the 'facts' of red mercury, and how Professor Frederick Roberts was involved with it, including details of his 'gambling addiction'. Tom wandered over. "How many hits on our site?"

Ruth looked up, grinning. "Thirty five thousand, two hundred and seventy one."

Tom was stunned, which made Ruth smile even more. "How many?!"

Ruth glanced back to her screen. "Whoops! More."

Tom nodded approvingly. "Okay. Now we close it down. And leak the news that it's MI-5 that pulled it." As Tom walked away he called out to Danny. "Time to hit the wife."

Ruth noticed that Danny didn't look as enthusiastic as he could have been. _What's going on there, I wonder?_ As Danny picked up the phone, Ruth shook her head, making her way over to Malcolm and Colin to let them know of Tom's instructions.

* * *

A loud cry of "YES!" distracted Ruth from her terminal, and her head jerked up to see Tom's face, jubilant. He had been watching live footage from the Roberts' house, and from his cry Ruth assumed that Professor Roberts had given his wife the cover story they had concocted for him. "Yes! Game on."

Ruth glanced over to Harry's office to see her boss looking at Tom, his expression one of concern, and mirrored by Ruth. They locked eyes for a moment, and Ruth hoped that her worry for Tom was conveyed to him in that time. Harry nodded slightly and put the headset back on. Ruth was still watching Tom a few minutes later, when Harry stood and made his way over to Tom, who was still grinning at his computer terminal in excitement.

After a few sentences, Harry left Tom, who suddenly looked less happy, and more thoughtful. He glanced around, and eventually he noticed Ruth watching him. Ruth held his gaze until she began to feel awkward and looked down, focusing on her computer terminal. _What's going on with you Tom? This isn't the Tom Quinn that I began working with._

* * *

An hour later, the team, aside from Colin and Malcolm, gathered in the meeting room, where Ruth had collected a series of images from Adam's surveillance to show the team. She was flicking through them slowly on the screen as everyone discussed their options.

Adam had made his way back to The Grid in record time after calling in his report to Tom, and was just finishing briefing Harry on what he had seen. "They looked like a professional team."

"The car had false number plates." Zoe said.

"A surveillance team means a serious organisation." Danny nodded at Adam, who was sat across from him.

Harry was stood at the top of the table, opposite the photos Ruth was still flicking through. "We've got to know who these people are."

The lights brightened slightly and Ruth turned as her eyes adjusted to it.

"Lift them and ask them?" Danny suggested, but Tom cut across him almost before Danny had finished talking.

"No! No. They can see we're crawling all over Fred Roberts, that's what attracts them. Our interest makes it seem like Fred really can make the Red Mercury. We keep baby-sitting him."

Zoe leant forward, her voice edgy. "And what about the family in Leeds? Do we get them to a safe house?"

"No, I don't think so. We have to leave the family hanging out to dry. Don't we Tom?" This time it was Adam who overrode the suggestion.

"Yep. That's the trap."

Harry looked unconvinced and paced the table - something Ruth had noticed he seemed to do when he wasn't entirely comfortable with their plan. "Fred's cover. It's fully backstopped?"

Zoe, after a quick glance at a nodding Ruth, also nodded. "False bank statements, casino bills, everything."

"Good. Now we wait, we watch."

* * *

Ruth was biting her nails as she, Sam, Danny and Zoe watched the facial recognition software attempt to make a match with the man who had approached Professor Roberts after his lecture. According to Roberts, the group that the man represented knew where his family were.

"He must be a student somewhere. Probably a post-grad." Zoe's voice was strained. She turned around to look incredulously at Ruth and Sam before twisting to face Danny. "Well, get on the network and help me, people."

_God, what has gotten into everyone today? It's only me and Sam who don't seem to be acting completely out of character. _It wasn't like Zoe to snap at Ruth. Sam had been on the sharp end of Zoe's tongue a few times, but Zoe seemed especially irritated today.

Ruth and Sam walked away quickly and logged onto their terminals. From the glances between the two of them, neither appreciated being spoken to like that, but they both decided to ignore it. _Anything to keep the peace, today._

* * *

It was an hour later when Sam suddenly shouted out, surprising everyone. "Oh! Oh! Everyone I've got him." Ruth stood and, with the rest of the team, made their way over to Sam's terminal. "Lawrence Sayle. 24 years old. Post graduate chemistry student at Queen Anne's College. His address is in Bristol."

As they all grinned at their luck of a relatively quick face match, Ruth scribbled down the details of Lawrence Sayle as Adam spoke, before he walked away. "Well done, Sam."

Danny moved into the space left by Adam to get a closer look at their suspect. Zoe stood abruptly and then glanced at Danny. "Right. Time for a road trip to Bristol, I think. Come on, Danny."

Danny groaned quietly, so only Ruth would have heard him. At her surprised look, he grinned before following Zoe out of the pods.

* * *

As Ruth received a phone call from Danny to let her know of the postcards and their hidden messages, she resigned herself to a late night on The Grid. She picked up her mobile quickly and glanced around, before heading to the corridor behind Harry's office. There was a reasonable amount of privacy there, and she really didn't need to let everyone on The Grid know about her private life.

She sighed slightly before dialling a number. "Hello?"

"Hi, Ben. I'm really sorry, I'm going to have to cancel tonight." There was silence on the other end of the line, so Ruth forged ahead. "Someone's spilt a fountain of coffee onto some really important files, and I need to get them sorted, and I just don't know how long it's going to take." Ruth hoped she didn't sound too much like she was lying, although as it really had happened, but just not this time, she hoped it wasn't as obvious as an out and out lie.

"Okay." Ben sounded as disappointed as Ruth felt. She and Ben had had this night planned for a little over a two weeks. _It really doesn't bode well for a relationship, does it, when I'm at the beck and call of MI-5, and am having to cancel our third date._ "Well, why don't you come over to mine after you're done? Doesn't matter how late, I'll be up anyway. We'll get a takeaway instead. I'd still really like to see you."

Ruth paused for a minute. "I don't know, Ben. It could be really late." _And coming over to your house is totally different to a quiet restaurant dinner._

"Well, it's up to you. We could always rearrange for tomorrow?"

"I, erm, I have choir tomorrow." _Oh what the hell, you like this guy, Evershed, go for it._ "I'll give you a text when I'm done here, and if it's not too late, I'd love to come over."

"Great!"

"I'll try and get it sorted as quickly as possible."

"Okay, Ruth. See you later, hopefully."

"Bye!"

Ruth hung up the phone, pleased, but stopped when she saw Harry standing in his office doorway, face unreadable.

"Er, Harry. Sorry. I, er, I just had to rearrange some plans with a friend for tonight. I'm er, I think, I'll be here for a while. Tonight, I mean."

The look on Harry's face had changed to something resembling amusement. "I didn't realise there had been _another_ incident, with a hot drink and some files on The Grid, Ruth."

Ruth looked down quickly, as she could feel the heat rising up her neck and to her cheeks. "Erm, yes. I mean, I, sort of."

"Ruth. Stop. Breathe." Harry cut through her ramblings and she did as he asked.

"I couldn't exactly tell my friend that we have a multitude of information about our next would-be terrorist to work through before I can go home, could I?" Ruth was already feeling on edge, and the humour in Harry's voice and face made her sound even more defensive than she felt. Harry nodded. "I'd better get back to work." Ruth started to walk away, but Harry's next words froze her, mid-step.

"Enjoy your date with Ben, won't you, when you do leave here." Ruth whipped around, horrified, but Harry's door was already closed and the man was at his desk, looking for all the world as though he'd been there all along. Ruth felt her blush rise up, once more, and wished that the ground would swallow her whole. She didn't know why she felt so awkward that Harry knew she had a date, but put it down to him being her boss. She shook her head, in an attempt to clear her mind of embarrassment, and made her way back to her desk.

* * *

The next day, the team were gathered around the meeting room table, and Ruth was handing out the briefing folders to the team. The table was covered in photos, and the postcards that Lawrence Sayle had hidden his messages in. There was also a rectangle of semtex on the table, which had been found at Mrs Sayle's house, in Bristol. Harry was at the opposite end of the table to Ruth, and was already flicking through the briefing folder.

"Y division have translated the cards for us. Now, they're all signed 'Aleph Command', but they're in two groups. Some make up a mini terrorist handbook; how to handle detonators, explosives. The others are ideological. They look forward to the overthrow of Saudi Arabia and the establishment of the House of Islam with a Caliphate in Baghdad."

Harry put his folder down. "Al Queda's stated aims." He leant forward and picked something off the table. "These postcards…"

Zoe nodded. "Er, they were sent from several towns in the Fergana valley. A number of Al Queda personnel are known to have settled there, after the Americans moved into Afghanistan."

"I've seen this postcard thing before." All heads turned to Adam as he spoke.

"How do you mean?" asked Danny.

"The Syrian Secret Service use it. This Aleph Command, I think it's something new. I think it's operating like us; surveillance teams, tradecraft."

"You mean it's like a terrorist MI-5?" Danny sounded as surprised as Ruth.

"Yeah." Adam nodded, pointing at the picture of Lawrence Sayle. "We've activated our sleeper, they've activated theirs. Lawrence Sayle. Okay, this would be my plan: we let Lawrence contact Fred, but don't pick him up until the money's paid. Criminal evidence is the key. The family in Leeds, put Special Forces on the house, but out of sight. This is about waiting. Wide awake."

* * *

Ruth and Zoe looked up as Danny walked through the pods. It was ten past midnight. _This doesn't look good, at all._

"What are you doing back here?" Zoe asked.

"I just had a visit from Tom." Danny looked worried, and for Ruth, that meant something was wrong.

"And?" Zoe wanted details.

"There's something wrong. He's hyper, then he's not with it."

"Danny…" Zoe sounded nervous now. "You're frightening me."

"Yeah. Well, at least he went home."

Ruth looked up from what she was doing. "Er.. no. He didn't. He went to the lab. Then they both left. He and the professor went out into the quad."

Danny was stricken. "Did he log himself out?"

"Oh." Ruth froze as the implications of the situation sank in. The three of them looked at one another as Zoe moved to pick up the phone. At that moment Adam walked over, his usually jovial face serious.

"Why do I sense something wrong is going down? Zoe?"

"Tom. He's gone AWOL." Zoe put the phone down. "The professor's gone too."

_Shit._ Ruth turned towards Danny, whose worried expression mirrored her own. "Let's find out what's going on." Danny nodded to Ruth as he walked away.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the group gathered again. "Maybe he took the professor home…?" Danny's voice was hopeful, but Ruth was already shaking her head, fingers clutching at her cup of water.

"No. No sign of them at the house."

"Has he snatched him, or what?"

"I saw this happen to someone at GCHQ." As they walked along, Ruth turned back to look at Zoe.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Their conscience…. exploded."

Zoe's tone was full of scepticism. "An exploding conscience? Tom? I don't think so."

"Three agents in the field got killed." Ruth turned away from Zoe and was surprised, and a little apprehensive, to see Harry stood at her desk. She slowed her pace slightly, as Zoe asked Danny for his opinion, hoping that Harry wouldn't hear their conversation.

"I think Ruth may be right."

"Right about what?" Harry looked up. _Too late. Now we definitely have to tell him._

* * *

Ruth rounded the corner, spotting Danny and Zoe at their desks, and made her way over to them, holding a photo aloft.

"It's Tom. He went through four speed cameras. He's on the A roads."

Adam and Harry approached the group, overhearing Ruth.

"So, what's he doing?" asked Harry.

There was silence for a moment before Adam spoke. "He's taking the professor to see his family. Then he'll try and make them disappear."

Zoe glared at him. "That a guess?"

"A certain guess."

Harry was clearly frustrated, pacing the floor as he spoke. "He is wrecking this operation!" He turned towards Ruth, his tone questioning. "What's the situation at the Leeds house?"

"Er, there are still two Aleph Command men watching."

Harry nodded slightly. "And Tom's just gonna go blundering in there. When he arrives with the professor, Special Forces go in - lift everyone out to safety."

Adam jumped up. "No! Sorry, Harry, but let's try and save this op." Adam looked at Ruth. "How long til they get to the Leeds house?"

Ruth did some quick thinking, taking into account the lack of traffic on the roads at this time of the night. "Probably.. an hour and a half."

Adam nodded. "I want you two with me." Ruth had already begun to move away by the time Zoe and Danny reacted to Adam's statement.

"We won't catch them in time!" Danny seemed surprised they were even bothering to try, but Adam just smiled, almost mischievously.

"Oh we will." Ruth wholeheartedly believed him.

Harry looked towards Adam. "I'm coming too. Ruth, call in a favour and get a helicopter to meet us on the nearest helipad."

Ruth nodded. _Well, now they'll definitely catch him._

* * *

A few hours later, Harry called Ruth as they made their way back to London in the helicopter and briefly outlined what had happened, including the part about Tom being decommissioned. Ruth nodded slightly, forgetting for the moment that Harry was unable to see her. She drew in a shaky breath, which Harry must have heard.

"Go home, Ruth. It's late. We'll see you in the morning."

"Okay."

Ruth hung up the phone, picking up her coat and bag. She made her way towards the pods, but paused as she reached Tom's desk. She pulled out a pen and slip of paper.

'Goodbye Tom. Thank you for everything. Stay safe. I'll miss you. Ruth'

She tucked the note into his desk draw and made her way from the building, wiping her eyes silently as she went.

* * *

**Wow, I'm SO sorry for the delay… My friend got me hooked on Castle (literally hooked. I watched four series in about two weeks – and 17 episodes of series 4 in one day) so I've been obsessed! But now that I'm slowly catching up with the air dates, I'm slowly getting back into writing. But veeery slowly, I'm afraid! I'll try to update sooner this time! Not sure about the ending really, but I wasn't sure how to go about Ruth's 'goodbye' to Tom without them meeting. Hope it works!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	15. Chapter 15

**3.3**

A few moments after Ruth sat down at her desk Adam approached her. "Ruth?" At her nod he continued. "I, er, need some research done on one of the people involved." Earlier that day, there had been an attempted attack on a man Danny was keeping an eye on, .

Ruth nodded again. "Zuli?"

"Er, no." Adam looked down briefly, avoiding her eye. "He's being covered. Zoe and Danny will be on the hit man. Now, I want you to check out our friend, the bookseller, Harakat."

Ruth looked at him, confused. She tilted her head slightly, silently asking the question 'why?'

"I sometimes think it's useful to look at an operation from a less obvious viewpoint. You know, cover all the bases."

Ruth took a breath, about to speak, but then Adam spoke again. "Harry tells me you're the soul of discretion."

Ruth was stunned for a second, a small smile gracing her face, as her eyes flickered towards Harry's office. Then she froze slightly. "Did he?" She looked down, simultaneously pleased that Harry had paid her such a high compliment to Adam, and embarrassed at her reaction to finding out about it, from Adam, no less. "Well… I try." She grinned at Adam's smile.

"Good. Thought so." Adam stood and began to walk back to his desk.

"Oh and Tom…"

Adam turned to look at Ruth, a strange expression on his face. _Could that be disappointment? SHIT. Evershed, you've really done it now!_

Ruth looked down. "Sorry." She shook her head self-deprecatingly and glanced up at Adam. "God. So.. sorry. Adam." She spoke his name as an apology, hoping to the high heavens that he wouldn't take it personally, just as a slip of the tongue. As Ruth had been flustering, Adam returned to stand in front of Ruth, the happy smile of only minutes before, gone from his face. Ruth decided to power on, and try to forget about it. She spoke quietly to him and tried to ignore the slightly saddened look on his face. "I assume that means you _don't_ want me to distribute my research to the rest of the office, as normal?"

Adam leant in, resting his hands on the desk, so that his face was level with Ruth's. "That's right." His tone seemed a little darker, more dangerous than before. "Ruth." He placed an emphasis on her name, as if reminding her that he, at least, knew _her_ name. "I'd also prefer it if it came to me, Adam, rather than Tom."

"Yes, yes of course, Adam." Ruth was relieved to see a smile back on his face and called after him. "Adam!"

As soon as Adam had gone, Ruth looked down; glad he hadn't been too upset by her mistake, but still banged her palm against the side of her head in frustration. _Idiot, Evershed._

* * *

After thinking on what Adam had asked her to do, Ruth decided to consult Harry. After her problems with Amanda Roke and Downing Street, she didn't want to keep any information back again, and she really disliked not letting the team know what she had been asked to do.

She quickly glanced through Harry's office windows and was glad to see he wasn't on the phone, but appeared to be doing paperwork at his desk, with no visitors. She opened the door and slipped inside. Harry glanced up, a frown on his face. "Still haven't got the hang of knocking, I see, Ruth."

Ruth smiled briefly before quickly outlining the situation. "I just wanted to check with you first, Harry."

While Ruth had been talking Harry had stood from his desk and made his way to the glad wall of his office and watched Adam on the phone. When she finished, he turned to face her once more. "That's fine, just do as he says. I brought Adam in to resolve the Tom problem…"

"And now you intend to keep him on?" Ruth looked questioningly at Harry, who shook his head slightly as he walked back towards her.

"I haven't decided. But whatever I decide, whoever joins the team, I still very much see you as one of the senior pros."

Ruth narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion. Harry seemed slightly flustered by Ruth's non-understanding and quickly explained. "To use an old cricket expression."

He turned away smoothly as Ruth was torn between being flattered by his trust, and uncertain as how she had earned it so quickly, when others had been on The Grid much longer than she.

"And… Adam's what? Our… new Captain?" Ruth was unsure whether that would make sense in the context of the conversation, but thankfully Harry seemed to see where she was heading.

Harry sat heavily in his chair. "I don't know, I only know that I want someone from outside."

Ruth nodded and began to walk away before a thought struck her. "So. All that makes someone like Malcolm what? Head Grounds-man?" A slight crease appeared across Ruth's brow which gave away her uncertainty at whether she had gone too far with the conversation, and had strayed slightly into teasing her boss.

"I think we can probably take the analogy too far, don't you?" There was a twinkle in Harry's eye as he spoke, and Ruth was relieved to realise that her tongue-in-cheek comments would not be totally unwelcome to Harry. "Right." She nodded again and left his office, feeling Harry's gaze on her as she left.

* * *

Less than thirty minutes after her conversation with Harry, Ruth approached Adam, a file in her hand. She looked around The Grid quickly and surreptitiously, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed handing her research over to Adam. She placed the folder down on his keyboard and leant down next to him. Adam glanced at the papers before speaking.

"Harakat's application for citizenship?"

Ruth nodded. "That he wrote out when he applied for immigration."

Adam turned to face her. "What of it?" Ruth's eyes flickered towards him briefly as he spoke again. "Give me the highlights."

"Well, it reads to me like.. like a not very good legend." Adam looked up once more. _Is that surprise?_ "Something.. er, an MI-6 case officer would make up." _Oh for God's sake. _He's_ from 6, Ruth! Why can't you have one conversation with this man without directing an insult towards him? Even if they are accidental._ Lucky Adam seemed amused, so she smiled back at him quickly. "It seems too _real _to be real life. If you know what I mean." She paused, debating her next move. _Oh why not._ "Adam." Ruth's tone was mischievous and apologetic all in one, and Adam seemed to appreciate the joke.

"Thank you." Adam turned towards her with a glint in his eye. "Ruth." As the two grinned at one another, Ruth realised that it would a very different atmosphere working under Adam, if Harry decided to keep him on, and she noted with surprise that she was rather hoping Adam would stay. There was no harm in joking about while at work; it made a nice change from the death and despair they usually dealt with.

"I shall look into it." Ruth took that as her dismissal and made her way back to her own desk, smiling internally. She was finding it almost impossible to dislike Adam, and she hoped that the others would feel the same way, regardless of how close the team, as a whole, had been to Tom.

* * *

Ruth made her way over to Zoe's computer terminal, where the younger woman was attempting to marry up CCTV footage to some likely suspects. As Ruth approached, Zoe turned around and smiled.

"Just done the Iranians now." Ruth stood behind Zoe and watched the screen. "I've cross referenced the footage from the bookshop with well-known hit men. There's just three more Middle-Eastern embassies left, and…"

"And then I'm left with the assorted mercenaries and nutcases." Ruth glared lightly at the screen, moving around Zoe to get a better look at some of the paperwork next to her.

"Well, you might get lucky. Check this out. The Syrian security advisor… no match." Zoe stood, keeping her eyes on the screen, and the picture of the security advisor. He was an attractive man, and raised her eyebrows in approval. "Nonetheless, I do think we ought to put him under immediate round the clock surveillance, what do you think?" Ruth grinned as she moved to sit down, but Zoe wasn't done yet. "You can have night duty." There was a twinkle in Zoe's eyes that had been missing of late, and Ruth was glad to see her getting back to normal. As Ruth sat, her eyes now focused on the man on the screen, she felt Zoe perch on the edge of the desk. "Malcolm, what do you think about Mr Handsome over here?" At Zoe's words, Ruth whipped around to see Malcolm's reaction and watched as he glanced dismissively at the screen.

"He's okay." Malcolm turned back to his work as Zoe and Ruth turned back to the screen.

Zoe, regardless of Malcolm's non-interest continued.

"Okay?! That is more than okay. That's like…"

"The business?" Ruth scrunched up her nose slightly, her eyes twinkling at the screen.

"I'd say it depends what you think makes a man attractive to women." Malcolm sounded bored, and possibly a little insulted.

"Well, erm, somebody who looks like that." Ruth smiled as her friend pointed at the screen. "And someone that makes me laugh."

"Oh." Ruth rolled her eyes slightly, sensing where this was going.

Malcolm's voice interrupted. "No. no, no. Zoe's right. I'm too serious, I should lighten up. Maybe you could help me. I could practise jokes, stuff like that." From his tone, Ruth realised he was probably joking, but Zoe wasted no time in absenting herself from the task.

"Hmm, Ruth? She'd love to, Malcolm."

Ruth had turned to face Malcolm, who, at Zoe's last words flickered his eyes towards her. She grinned at him quickly, raising her eyebrows, before turning back to the task at hand.

* * *

Three hours later, and it was just reaching ten pm, and both Ruth and Malcolm were still at their desks, the two of them barely having moved since Zoe left, save for a coffee run and a quick stretch every now and again. The Grid was empty apart from the two of them and Ruth hung her head forwards, the three hours having passed with no success on identifying their hit man. A thought stuck her, and she turned her head to face her companion.

"Go on then Malcolm. Try your joke out." She drew in a deep breath, glancing back to the screen. "See if that brings us any luck."

Malcolm was momentarily nonplussed, but gathered himself quickly. "Okay, right. Err, man walks into a doctors surgery. 'Doctor, Doctor, I've got a cricket ball stuck up my bum.' Doctor says 'howzat?' The bloke says 'don't you start!'"

Ruth has no idea what was supposed to the funny part of that joke, but can't help laughing as she recalls the look on Malcolm's face as he spoke. She looks down, trying to control her giggles.

"Yeah, in some ways, Malcolm, I don't think I'm the best person for you, on this." Ruth turned back to the screen, grinning.

"Right, there's a good one about two ants and an elephant…"

There's a beep on the screen, indicating a match, and Ruth's grin disappears, suddenly serious.

"Wait. There it is." Ruth surveys the screen and the photo which matched the CCTV. "Finally. That, that's it, That, that's a match." She takes in a jubilant breath. "Someone up there must like your joke, Malcolm." She clicked a button on the computer terminal so that the matching images would disappear and be replaced by another search.

"Outstanding."

Ruth picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial to contact Adam. She feels a momentary stab of guilt as she realises that he only left The Grid about an hour ago, but needs must.

His voice was uncharacteristically gruff as he answered the phone. "We've got him." Ruth said.

"Well done. Ruth." There was the joke again. "Head home, I'll get everyone in for a briefing, tomorrow morning."

"I'm going to stay here, give Malcolm a hand."

"Okay. See you in the morning."

* * *

It was 3am when Malcolm left Thames House, but by that point, Ruth had found some other work, namely researching their suspect, which she had been drawn into and by the time she had finished, it was approaching 5 o'clock. She groaned as she stretched her back and arms, before gathering her bag, and heading to the cloakroom. She and Zoe had arranged to come in at 7 in order to go over some of the facts, ready for the briefing at 8. If she left now and called a taxi, Ruth would have enough time for a shower and an hour long power nap, before she would need to be back at work. _It'll have to do._ She hoped that she would get the chance to have a break at some point during the day. As she stumbled out of the taxi at 5.15, Ruth just about managed feed the cats and set her alarm for 6.20 before she collapsed into bed. She was asleep almost before her head touched the pillow.

* * *

Ruth pointed the remote at the screen as she turned back to face her assembled audience. "This is our main hit man suspect. His name is Sharaf Al-Youm. He came through Heathrow on a tourist visa a few weeks ago."

She clicked the remote, and Zoe took up the narrative. "These were taken a week before the shooting."

"Taken where?" Harry looked from the screen to Ruth and back again.

"On the CCTV in the bookstore."

"Who is he, and why is he on our database?"

Zoe nodded at Ruth, telling her to answer Adam's question. "He's a big time hit man with no particular allegiance we know of to any of the groups or countries he's worked for." Ruth turned to face the screen once more, pressing a button for the next set of photos. "Bosnia '96 where he spent his summer killing Serbs. Algiers. Apparently the regime was strapped for cash, so they paid him in kind, with a Russian military helicopter. An Mi-8."

Malcolm looked impressed. "Land that in the back garden and the neighbours would know you mean business."

Adam looked between Zoe and Ruth. "So he's a hired assassin." It was a statement more than a question. "Chances are he'll try again. We need to find this man and who he's working for. It seems pretty clear he's not a sole trader."

* * *

As they left the briefing room, Zoe collared Ruth. "Will's asked me to go to a wedding with him…"

Ruth smiled. "When?"

"Er, this weekend."

"Who's is it?"

"It's his best friend from college."

"That's great…?" Ruth caught sight of Zoe's uneasy face as she spoke. "Why do you seem so worried?"

"Yeah, but it's.. well it's the first thing we've done in public, together." Ruth nodded in understanding.

"So, are you gonna get him vetted?"

"He already has been."

"I've always thought it was a shame that the service has to be the first to know when we're serious about someone."

"Especially before they do.." Zoe looked suddenly saddened and Ruth realised at that moment that Zoe must really like this Will guy, and that he wasn't just a passing fancy.

"Speaking of being serious about someone…"

"What?"

"Ruth. Come on! That guy, Ben."

"Oh, right. It's not serious enough for vetting.."

"Yet?"

"Maybe. We're going out again at the weekend. If this one goes well, I suppose I'll have to submit a S24 to Harry."

Zoe nodded. "It was awful, when I handed mine into Harry. It was like giving my Dad all the information about Will. Worse, actually, because I know my Dad can't make him disappear if something goes wrong."

Ruth grinned briefly, but she spotted Adam entering the pods, and knew he would make a beeline for her once he'd deposited his coat. "Just have fun, pretend it's no different to any other time you've been out."

"But it will be!"

"How so?"

"Well, we'll be clothed." Zoe's tone was mischievous and there was a sudden glint in her eye.

Ruth started slightly. "Zoe! Are you telling me the two of you haven't been out to dinner once?"

Zoe suddenly looked sheepish and Ruth laughed in disbelief before returning to her desk.

* * *

An hour later, Zoe came flying through The Grid. "Ruth, where's Adam?"

"Erm.. had to dash out. Anniversary present for his wife."

Zoe sat at the desk closest to her, looking worried and dialled Adam's number.

"We just had a tip off from immigration." She spoke into the phone. "Al-Youm - the hit man - he's back in the UK, just got off the Eurostar." Zoe turned to Ruth, who was watching and nodded. Ruth swivelled to face her computer and began attempting to trace him. "But this time he's on a Belgian passport. He could be about to try again."

When Ruth had traced Al-Youm as far as possible, she showed Zoe where she'd got up to, ready for when Adam returned to The Grid. She made her way to the break room for a power nap; she had a feeling she'd need her energy, and she could already feel herself flagging after her all-nighter.

* * *

When Ruth came back a while later to see Adam and Zoe going over Al-Youm's movements, she noticed a pink bag on her desk. _Where did that come from? He wouldn't..?_ She scrubbed the thought from her mind before she even had the chance to fully think it, chiding herself internally for being silly. She opened the bag slightly, curious.

Adam's voice made her jump slightly. "Oh. Sorry, Ruth, that's mine."

"Fine. Good, course it is." She picked up the bag, hoping she wasn't flushing too badly and handed it back to him. _Oh God. You're just destined to embarrass yourself in front of this man, aren't you!_ She quickly made her way to the kitchen, to get a coffee, and to hide her pink cheeks.

* * *

They had spent hours following Al-Youm's every movement, and Adam had moved Danny and Hakarat to a safe house to keep them away from the hit man, but so far Al-Youm had done nothing that needed to be worried about. Adam decided to send everyone home, only keeping the night shift going, with strict instructions to red-flash the team if Al-Youm left his house.

Ruth was grateful to be going home at a normal time, but she was tired and had to cancel her date with Ben in order to catch up on the sleep she had missed. Ruth was rather impressed with how understanding he was being about the cancelled dates, especially as she was never able to give him any real details about the reason. She was surprised to realise that she wasn't too sorry about having to cancel on him yet again, and that she was rapidly losing interest in dating him. _It really takes its toll; not being able to be honest with those closest to you._ Ah well, she was sure her cats would be pleased to see her.

* * *

Ruth approached Adam at one of the computer terminals off of the main body of The Grid, and finds him watching some footage of Al-Youm. She sits down next to him and focuses on the images before them.

"Still nothing?"

"Nothing." Adam sounds slightly irritated. Ruth bets that for an action man like Adam, one of the best field officers 6 has; that watching and waiting for a suspect to move really grates on his nerves. He blew out a long, exasperated breath. "Harry got nowhere with Oliver Mace."

"Sometimes this happens, you get these lulls." Ruth tried to reassure Adam that they weren't missing anything, and that the inactivity of their suspect was normal.

He nodded slightly. "It doesn't make it any easier, though. I mean look at this. This is all the surveillance footage since he arrived." He made an irritated sound. "What's he waiting for?"

Ruth stood, and began to walk away. She made it to the entrance of the room before turning back to Adam. "If there's anything more you need me to do… You just have to, you know, ask." Adam smiled at her and nodded his thanks. Ruth smiled back and left, making her way back to her desk.

* * *

The team had just walked through the meeting doors when Adam began the meeting. "This is our chance to get a world exclusive on what went on between Mace and Khordad at the West Bank meeting. Maybe even find out if there's a connection to Al-Youm. The contact who donated the photo has agreed to a rendezvous. They're the only person who knows what was being discussed and whether there's a link to our hit man Al-Youm, and the events at the bookstore." Adam glanced around the room briefly, making eye contact with each of the team. "No one can know this person has spoken to me. They're taking a massive risk here. So if I'm followed it's imperative that we know who it is following me, and that we lose them. This means Category A counter-surveillance. Zoe, I want you to run the route for me. If we get this right, we'll be able to nail this operation once and for all. We get it wrong, and.. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be looking over my shoulder all the way home." Ruth watched Zoe receive her instruction from Adam, and she thought that the latter didn't look happy. _She's not.. jealous that she didn't get Tom's job? No, that can't be it, maybe she's just having trouble adjusting to Adam._ As Ruth was thinking, Adam had carried on with the briefing. "Two other things: if someone's onto us, my guess is that they'll disguise their M.O to make it look like someone else, so watch them carefully. Secondly, if our friend Al-Youm so much as breaks wind, I want to know about it. Now Danny, I know our hit man still hasn't moved so much as an inch, but…"

Danny nodded. "Understood. Harakat. CQP. The day shift." Ruth had to rack her brain to remind herself what CQP meant and sent a questioning glance towards Malcolm who scribbled to her on a piece of paper. 'Close Quarter Protection'. _Of course._ Ruth nodded in thanks before tuning back into Adam's voice.

"Yeah, but before we start, there's something about Tom I wanna get straight." Adam focused his gaze on Zoe and Danny, realising perhaps that they were the two he needed to convince most of all. "He was an outstanding case officer who, with all of you, established a great team. And this is no disservice to him, because his record stands for itself, but let's face it, our enemies, particularly these ones, don't seem to be troubled by scruples. I mean, I haven't come across any of them wringing their hands, worrying about which lie to tell. That's not Tom's legacy, but it's something you all have to face. Because you're still here doing it, and he's not. I need you to forget about what's happened. I need you on my side." Ruth risked a small smile at Adam when his gaze once more passed over her, hoping that the team, especially Zoe and Danny would take his words to heart.

* * *

An hour later, Adam summoned Ruth to the forgery suite to run through the file on counter-surveillance. He handed her a file and nodded.

"Okay, before the bridge. Sign is where?"

"The, er, Festival Pier." As he spoke, Adam picked up one of the many outfits displayed before them, and held it up against himself, checking the size. "This'll do." He walked away with it, and Ruth realised she was expected to follow, and quiz him on the way to wherever he was headed.

* * *

Ruth was sat with Colin at her desk, as Zoe talked Sam through Adam and the counter-surveillance techniques. She looked up as Zoe called over to her.

"Ruth! We've got to get a message to him. Tell him we think it's his old friends over at 6 doing the following." Ruth had picked up the phone before Zoe had finished and was working on getting a message to him immediately. "He probably trained those guys." Zoe rolled her eyes at the audacity of 6, before turning back to the screen.

* * *

"Okay, we're beginning to run out of ideas here, they're all over us." It was forty minutes later, and Zoe sounded worried, which was doing nothing for Ruth's nerves.

Ruth checked the clock and then looked over to Zoe. "Look, there's less than three hours. That's nothing. Shall we, shall we tell Adam to abort?"

"No, it's today or we lose the source. Where's the next contact point?"

Ruth checked the red file in front of her. "Last stop, Eva. Where's Harry?" Ruth thought they could probably do with some new ideas, and Harry had been in the game long enough to have some tricks up his sleeve that the others hadn't even dreamt about.

Zoe shook her head, clearly realising what Ruth was getting at. "He's at a conference."

_Well, that's out then._

* * *

Sam handed Ruth a cup of tea as Zoe monitors the site of the meet.

"All the signals are jammed. He must have got there." Relief flooded Zoe's voice; they hadn't screwed this one up. They weren't done yet, but it was a step in the right direction. With Adam meeting the informant, they might get some idea as to what this was all about.

At that moment, Zoe's phone rang. She snatched it up and the assembled team watched her face change as she processed the news. "Stay on the line." She turned around and spoke. "Malcolm, warn Danny. Harakat's the target." Malcolm moved to check Danny's itinerary as Zoe turned back to the phone. "Okay." Ruth watched as she listened once more to Adam's information. Malcolm handed Zoe a print out of Danny's schedule, and she spoke to Adam quickly. "Adam, there's a problem. Danny said he was going to the safehouse, but via Lord's. It's logged in his itinerary. They must still be there but his phone must be off or something."

Sam was alternating between ringing Danny's phone, and the number for Lord's cricket ground, while the others looked on helpless. "Can't get through to Danny, or Lord's. The lines are still down."

Zoe sat, with Ruth and Colin at her shoulders, watching the CCTV footage from Lord's of Danny and Hakarat playing cricket. "I can't bear to watch this." Ruth nodded in agreement. "His phone's been jammed." Zoe almost whispered.

"We've got five units on their way." Sam's voice cut through the tense silence.

Malcolm called up footage of the Lord's surrounding areas, and before too long spotted Adam. He called across The Grid to let the others know, but by this point Danny and Harakat had returned to the car.

"There's the car, there." Zoe nodded towards the screen, where Danny's car joined the main CCTV system, leaving Lord's. Mere seconds later, the footage showed Adam arriving at the gateway where Danny had just left.

_Shit. This isn't going to end well._

The team watched as Danny and Hakarat drove along the roads, making their way towards their safehouse. Sam was still trying Danny's mobile, but to no avail. The team were sat, motionless; waiting. They could do nothing but watch as the CCTV showed the rear window smash from the force of the bullet, and the car came to a swerving halt. _Please say Danny's okay. _Sam grabbed Ruth's hand, quietly, and Ruth attempted a reassuring smile at the younger woman.

Suddenly there was movement at the front right car door opened. As one, the team let out a relieved breath when Danny emerged from the car, unscathed. They watched as he hit the top of the car in anger. Sam released Ruth's hand and walked away.

* * *

**Here we go, the next chapter!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	16. Chapter 16

**3.4**

The team sat, in the meeting room, watching the video Danny had taped the previous evening. A young woman's face filled the screen as she made a speech.

"The day I finished my film, a volunteer from this campaign was escorting Palestinian farmers to their fields. He was shot by the Israeli Defence Forces…"

Harry stood, drawing Ruth's attention from the video momentarily, and at that point, Danny paused the playback.

"Okay, I've been accessing the computer of the Palestine Freedom Campaign and going through the accounts database." Danny's voice trailed off as he noticed the troubled look upon Harry's face. Adam and Zoe turned to look at him, their expressions matching the looks of confused concern which Ruth wore.

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Zoe asked.

He nodded towards the screen. "Catherine." His voice was resigned, weary. "I thought she was in Tel Aviv."

The team were nonplussed, and Zoe recovered first. "You know her?"

Harry hadn't taken his eyes from the screen since the young woman had appeared. "Catherine's my daughter."

Ruth's mouth dropped open, but she caught herself before anyone noticed. _This makes everything a whole lot more complicated._

Zoe spoke once more, fumbling over her words. "Her surname…"

Harry seemed to snap out of his reverie, and glanced towards the team. "Yeah, it's her mother's maiden name, she took it after the divorce."

While Zoe, Danny and Ruth sat in stunned silence, Adam brought them all back to the topic at hand. "You didn't know your daughter's mixed up with the Palestine Freedom Campaign?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, his hand held to his mouth in resignation. "Nope. Well you could always rely on Catherine to find the bird with the broken wing. Emotion over intellect. Suppose you have to expect that. Brother was the one with the brains."

The team were silent. So Harry had _two _children? Ruth was reminded of how little anyone actually new about Harry. The information about his children had somehow been kept out of his file, or she'd have known; God knows she'd read it often enough, trying to understand what made their fearless leader tick. Harry's expression changed to one of mild irritation that he had become the centre of attention.

"Shall we crack on?" Zoe, Adam and Ruth turned slowly back towards the screen, and Danny, whose gaze was still focused on Harry. There was silence for a moment until Adam spoke.

"Danny." It was a prompt, intending to bring him back to the present, and to their operation, rather than Harry's private life. Danny's eyes flicked to Adam's, who nodded towards the screen from his position beside Ruth.

"Oh. Right, erm." He turned the remote back towards the screen, playing another video. "The man with Ashworth is, erm, Richard Hollins, campaign volunteer."

"What's going on there?" Adam asked, at the sight of the two men sharing a quiet word on screen.

"Well, if it's what we think it is… then it looks like Ashworth's got himself a boyfriend. That's not going to play very well with his mates in the Middle East, is it?" Zoe spoke, her eyes focused on the snapshot before them.

"Right, can we check it out please, some snaps? Do you know any good photographers, Zoe?" Adam grinned cheekily as Zoe smiled demurely.

"Someone we can throw to the wolves as paparazzi low-life if they're caught? Think I might have just the man."

Harry's voice seemed to come out of nowhere and seemed reminiscent as he spoke. "She was always very good at swimming."

The team all turned to stare at him. _Oh, poor Harry._ Ruth realised from his tone and the wistful regret in his eyes that there must be a lot more to his and Catherine's relationship than was immediately obvious. That he didn't know what she was doing these days must mean that they weren't in contact very often. Ruth felt her heartstrings tug a little for Harry; she couldn't imagine what it was like to be estranged from his child, or possibly both of his children. She was well aware what it was like for her, as the child, to be distanced from her mother, but she had never considered what it would be like for a parent to be distanced from their child, whom they had created, even if, like her and her mother, their relationship was somewhat tempestuous. She made a mental note to call her Mum when she got home, just to say hello.

Nobody had spoken since Harry, and the others were still staring at him when Sam burst into the room. "Adam, Special Branch are on the secure line."

That seemed to snap everyone out of their reverie and there was a sudden flurry of movement as they all attempted to act as if they hadn't been watching Harry silently and in surprise. Adam dashed out of the room first, while the others, including Sam, waited for Danny to give them a few last pointers relating to their case before following Adam's lead and heading back to their desks.

As they left the room, Sam asked Ruth what the strange silence had been about. Ruth figured she should tell Sam, or someone else would, and she would probably be one of the only ones who would speak of Harry with the respect he deserved, in regards to this. Just as she was explaining about Catherine, and how Harry said she had taken his ex-wife's maiden name, Adam called her, sounding urgent.

"Ruth, where's that information on extremist Israeli groups I asked for?"

Ruth went to her desk and tried to find the work she had so far. "Uh, yeah, I was working on it."

"What about The November Committee?"

Apparently, Ruth wasn't the only one to realise Adam was in a mild panic. "Adam, what's going on?" asked Zoe.

"Some bloody lunatics have just kidnapped the UN's chief negotiator."

Danny looked over in surprise. "What, Patricia Norton?"

"Didn't return to her hotel, mobile's been sabotaged. Peace talks have been suspended."

Ruth looked between Adam, Zoe and Danny in horror. Adam seemed to be racking his brains for an idea.

"Zoe, when's your next meeting with Nicholas Ashworth?"

"Tomorrow."

"Make it today. I need to know what he meant about David Swift's connections."

"The newspaper guy? What's David Swift got to do with it?"

"Just before she was abducted, Patricia warned me about both him, and a far right extremist group called The November Committee. See what Ashworth knows."

"Right, I'll, er, I'll say I've got a problem with my thesis or something." Zoe glanced behind her, towards Danny, who looked towards Ruth. She nodded quickly and drew up the file of Zoe's 'research thesis'. Luckily, she knew the work inside out, and quickly managed to find something Zoe could ask Ashworth about.

"Yeah, well, take along one of Swift's newspapers, see if that gets a reaction."

"Okay."

With that, both Zoe and Adam left the area, leaving Ruth and Danny sat, without orders. She looked at him. "I'll see what Special Branch have managed to find out so far, and see if there's anything we can build on. And then I'll try and dig a bit deeper into Swift and The November Committee." Danny nodded absently, sitting at his desk.

* * *

A few hours later, Danny, Sam and Ruth were sat around Ruth's desk on The Grid. Harry had just told Adam to take Zoe on a mission rather than Danny, and Ruth got the sense that Danny was a bit put out by this. Sam, of course, had noticed Danny's demeanour and was doing her best to cheer him up.

"First Zoe gets to be the PhD student while I lick envelopes and fold t-shirts."

"And then you don't get to be Adam's wingman. Life's just so unfair, Danny." Sam's voice was teasing, and raised a small smile from Danny and Ruth, while the three of them worked.

"He needs you in the Campaign to keep an eye on Catherine." Ruth tried to soothe Danny's ruffled feathers. If Harry wanted his daughter kept an eye on and chose Danny to do it, that was a badge of honour, surely? _Harry would let any old incompetent officer look out for his daughter._

Sam grinned. "Can you imagine being Harry's daughter?!" Her tone was scathing, and Ruth didn't like where the conversation was heading.

"They probably had to vet the pony." Danny and Sam laughed heartily at his joke, the two of them completely missing the glare Ruth threw their way. She realised she was more irritated then the comment warranted and stood up, mumbling some excuse about the toilet before getting as far away from the two of them as possible. The two of them clearly hadn't picked up on Harry's sadness from the meeting when he had spoken of his daughter, and Ruth couldn't bear listening to the two of them take the mickey out of him, without knowing the whole story.

After spending five minutes wandering in the vague direction of the bathrooms, Ruth made her way back to her desk, which she was pleased to note Danny and Sam had abandoned in favour of the kitchen.

* * *

The next morning, Ruth followed Danny into the meeting room, Adam on her heels. Harry was already sat down, waiting for them and Adam got straight to the point. "As you know, a United Nations diplomat has been kidnapped and I believe that an extremist pro-Israeli group called The November Committee is responsible."

Adam nodded at Ruth who pointed the remote in her hand at the screen, pinpointing a section of a world map for their attention. "The West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied by the Israelis since the Six Day War of 1967. But Israel's most stunning military victory has been the source of her greatest conflicts ever since."

"Solution: a viable state for the Palestinian population in exchange for peace. A fading possibility that Patricia was trying to rescue at the peace talks." Adam sat down next to Ruth, and once more looked to her to continue.

"The November Committee was set up to combat any such solution."

"Who are they?" Zoe asked.

Adam took up the narrative. "The Committee itself is made up of powerful figures from Israel, the US and Europe. Their soldiers are usually rogue members of the Security Services."

Danny spoke up. "And David Swift?"

Ruth pointed the remote at the screen once more; a picture of the man in question appearing. "An extreme neo-Conservative with friends in high places. They see Israel as the most important battleground in global conflict. And for Swift and his friends in Israel and Washington, radical and previously unthinkable solutions are required."

Danny caught Ruth's eye. "And what are these solutions?"

Ruth clicks the remote once more, and the image of West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the map disappeared to show them as part of one country.

"Greater Israel. Annexe the West Bank and force the Palestinians out."

Zoe looked surprised. "Don't we call that ethnic cleansing?" Her tone was mildly sarcastic and Ruth nodded slightly.

"We might. Er, they call it defending global security against a hostile civilisation. And anybody who gets in the way of that is a traitor and persecutor." Ruth glanced at Adam, who took his cue.

"After Patricia's tip-off about Swift, we went to his office last night and did a little… _investigating_." Harry smiled sardonically as Adam produced two photos. "This belongs to Swift. The Hebrew on the blade means 'security through a Greater Israel."

"Which is the slogan of The November Committee," All the eyes in the room turned towards Ruth once more, as she spoke. "Now, they had reason to hate Patricia Norton, not just because she was an advocate of the two-state solution, but because she insisted that any future Palestinian state had to be viable."

Adam nodded. "Swimming against the tide."

"Why The November Committee?" Danny asked.

"The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was working towards a similar solution as Patricia Norton." Ruth said.

"He was shot by a right-wing Jewish fanatic in November of 1995. The 'committee' obviously saw it as a month worth remembering." Adam rolled his eyes slightly at the thought.

At that moment Zoe's phone rang. "Yeah?"

There was silence as she listened to the voice on the other end. "Okay?" She looked around the room. "They found the car that took Patricia Norton."

Adam looked up. "Where?"

"Near Grays, in Essex."

"Let's get on it now." Adam stood and left the room. As Ruth followed suit, she noticed Harry learn towards Danny slightly and speak quietly. Danny tensed slightly but dutifully followed Harry.

Zoe and Ruth exchanged a glance before making their way to their desks.

* * *

Ruth walked into the meeting room bright and early the next morning, only to find Adam, Zoe, Harry and Danny already assembled.

"We've done it, we've broken the encryption code for Swift's computer files." She flashed a smile a Malcolm, who had followed her in, as he had done the majority of the work needed to break the code. "He's definitely part of The November Committee and there's a list."

"What sort of list?" Harry glanced at the papers in front of Ruth.

"Targets. Habits, finances, sexual preferences. And next to each name is a code." She slid the papers to the middle of the table so everyone could see them. "'Nablus' means blackmail. 'Bethlehem' appears to be threaten. 'Hebron' - surveillance." She paused for a second, glancing at Adam. "And.. 'Jenin.'"

His eyes met Ruth's. "Patricia was 'Jenin.'" He spoke it as a statement, rather than a question, but Ruth nodded nonetheless.

Malcolm added his findings to the meeting. "Swift communicates by e-mail with an agent called Phoebe. Even de-encrypted, the messages are written in an extremely guarded fashion. The agent uses a laptop from various phone lines. Swift's agent sent the last message from this location." He turned the screen on the laptop he was holding to face the team.

Zoe looked around. "That's the Palestine Freedom Campaign address."

Danny frowned. "Looks like we're not the only ones watching Ashworth."

Ruth nodded, eyes on Harry. "Well, Nicholas Ashworth has long alleged that he would be the target of an Israeli assassination team."

Zoe made a face. "Which was rightly discounted as a mixture of vanity and paranoia."

"Well, he's high on The November Committee list." Ruth gestured to the paper in front of her as she spoke.

Zoe nodded her head, in concession to Ruth. "Ashworth is the most prominent pro-Palestinian MP."

"And now he's asking questions about Swift in Parliament." Danny was reading one of the sheets Ruth had brought into the meeting.

"What's Ashworth's destination?" Adam asked Ruth, who flicked a page over to find the relevant notes.

"'Hebron'."

"Well, it's only surveillance." Adam sounded surprised.

Ruth took a breath before answering. "Backslash 'Jenin.'"

Adam thought for a second. "So they've got an agent in there, watching him. When they've found out all they need to know, they'll kill him."

Harry spoke for the first time in the meeting since Ruth had arrived. "They could put a bomb in there." Ruth was certain none of the others saw the flash of concern for his daughter cross his face and felt a pang of pity for her boss.

"Not their MO." Adam was quick to refute Harry's idea.

Harry shook his head. "We don't know their MO."

"After what they did to Patricia I'd say we do know. Nasty, grubby and sadistic, that's their MO."

"Ashworth's not the only one at risk here. It's everybody in the Campaign." This time, Ruth was sure the whole team got Harry's meaning. _Catherine._

Zoe turned to Harry. "I should warn Ashworth."

"Not yet." Ruth looked at Adam in surprise and noticed the same expression on Zoe's face.

"Well, when?"

"Not yet." Adam repeated himself in answer to Zoe. "Ruth, how many others are marked 'Jenin'?"

Ruth looked down briefly. "Fifteen" She paused. "Very high profile, all linked in some way to the peace process. At least half are Jewish, and perceived as traitors."

"Warn them. Make discreet arrangements for their protection." Ruth nodded at Adam.

"What are you saying? Use Ashworth as bait to draw the agent out?"

Adam nodded in the face of Zoe's disbelief. "We've already got you two, in place, just where they might strike next. Come on, Zoe. Live dangerously."

Zoe's eyes widened. "But I'm not the one in danger, am I Adam."

"Look, if we don't stop The November Committee, we can say goodbye to peace in the Middle East. Let me do this my way, Harry."

Ruth looked towards Harry, who nodded. "Okay, Adam. But no rash moves. Until we know exactly what we're doing we keep Swift at arm's length."

As the team dispersed, Harry lingered slightly by the doors, and caught Ruth on her arm as she walked past, as usual, the last to leave the meeting room.

"Ruth…" He looked uneasy. "Is.. Catherine?"

She smiled softly at him. "She's not on the list, Harry. Malcolm and I would have told you immediately if she were in that kind of danger."

He nodded his gratitude. "Thank you." Ruth grasped his arm lightly, reassuring him while simultaneously hoping against hope that she wasn't overstepping her boundaries. "You know they'll do everything to keep her out of harm's way."

Harry nodded once more, his body tensing almost imperceptibly. Ruth took that as her cue to leave, and returned to her desk.

* * *

Ruth and Danny were sat at his desk when Harry rounded the corner shouting, with Adam in tow. "I said 'no rash moves'. How much more clearly do I have to spell it out?" Danny raised his eyebrows at Ruth, the two of them wondering exactly what it was Adam had done.

Adam's voice was quiet in comparison to Harry's. "It wasn't a rash move. You shake the tree and see what flies out. If their agent in the Campaign even so much as twitches as a result of my conversation with Swift, we've found an asset we can use to destroy both him, and The November Committee."

Harry looked exasperated. "YES. I _know_ what you're doing Adam, but it's bloody dangerous. And if anybody gets hurt, there will be consequences."

Adam returned his gaze steadily. "You're forgetting, Harry, somebody already has been hurt."

Harry's jaw twitched and Ruth quickly averted her eyes from the arguing pair, instead picking a point on the metal framing around Danny's desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry turn towards she and Danny, before gritting his teeth and walking away.

Once he had left, Ruth and Danny let out a joint breath as Adam made his way over to them. He paused, resting his arm on the desk. "'And my poor fool is hanged.'" He quoted. Ruth nodded in recognition of the phrase, but her brow creased slightly, feeling sorry for Harry, in a tough situation.

Danny, apparently wasn't as well versed in his Shakespeare and she and Adam. "What?"

"We need to watch over him. Seeing his daughter like that was a, a big shock, but the last thing we need right now is for Harry to go all King Lear on us." He paused. "Ruth. Let's listen in on everybody in that Campaign. Mobiles, and e-mails as well."

Ruth nodded, and mentally prepared herself for a late night.

* * *

The next morning, Ruth saw Adam walking towards her. _Perfect timing._ "Adam, you have to listen to this phone intercept." She fingered her headset briefly, before making space for Adam to sit down, and handing him a second earpiece before pointing Zoe and Danny to another two headsets.

"_What's so important that you have to meet me_?" Swift's voice came filtering through into their ears. Ruth sat, nervously fiddling with a pen, aware of what was coming.

"_Information about Nicholas Ashworth_." A female voice answered Swift.

Ruth realised that the others didn't recognise her speaker, which wasn't surprising as only Danny had met her before. She looked at Adam, took a breath and spoke.

"It's Catherine."

Adam's eyes widened. "Harry's daughter? What the hell's she doing talking to Swift?"

"_What kind of information?_" Swift asked Catherine on the recording.

"_I really can't discuss it on the phone. This has to be done face-to-face._" Catherine said.

There was a pause as Swift contemplated what Catherine said. "_I'll get back to you. Wait until you hear from me._"

The line went dead and everyone except Ruth removed their earpieces, all thinking deeply.

"She's the agent for The November Committee." She was stunned, as she looked around those sat with her. As one, they all looked towards Harry's office. _Oh God, who's going to tell him. And what will he do?_

* * *

Five minutes later, Ruth, Zoe, Adam and Danny were sat around the meeting room table as Harry paced. "Who authorised the intercept on Catherine's mobile?"

Adam didn't flinch. "I did."

Harry turned to him. "Why didn't you consult me?"

"It was an operational decision."

Zoe looked up. "Which applied to everyone in the Campaign."

"Everyone in the Campaign is not my daughter." Ruth watched as Harry came to stand by Zoe.

Danny chipped in. "Look, I went to the offices very late the other night to go through some computer records. Catherine was there too." Ruth didn't dare look up as Danny spoke. She could imagine the look on Harry's face, and didn't want to bring his ire onto her just yet.

"Oh well, that's conclusive, prepare the electrodes, Ruth, we'll soon get it out of her." Harry's voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Ruth blinked before pulling her gaze up from the desk and onto Harry.

"She was using a laptop." Danny continued, bravely ignored Harry's glare.

"Which is usually how Swift communicates with his agent." Harry ground his teeth at Zoe's words and there was a silence.

Ruth took a breath, watching her boss' steady breathing before she spoke. _This won't go down well._ "I know you're upset Harry, but there's something else."

And there it was, Harry tensed, snapping at her, making Zoe jump. "Something _else!_ That's your bloody middle name." He began pacing again and Zoe looked at Ruth nervously.

"Shouting at Ruth won't help." Adam's eyes followed Harry as Ruth glanced towards him.

"It's okay." Her tone was placating. She could guess at how he was feeling, having had the news sprung upon him like this, in front of almost his whole team. His nerves were bound to be a little frayed. Ruth understood, she really did. _Maybe one of us should have spoken to him in private? _"After we got the intercept, we ran a more detailed background check on Catherine."

Harry turned towards her, gesturing towards himself. "Background? _I'm_ her background." _At least he's not shouting anymore._

"Yes you are, but.." she paused, steeling herself. She could feel Harry's eyes boring into her as she spoke. "We've subsequently found out that while she was in Tel Aviv she was seeing this man." She reached for a photo to hand to Harry, which he practically snatched from her. "His name is Gilad Lasker and he's a member of Israeli military intelligence." Harry's head shot to Ruth, his eyes flashing in alarm. "With links like this, Catherine could be a double agent, working undercover for Swift."

Harry stood, in stunned silence, the photo clutched in his hand.

Adam spoke once more. "We're checking him out, but we have to suspect that he may have been the person who recruited her for The November Committee." Ruth kept her eyes on Harry as Adam spoke, watching his reaction carefully.

He nodded slowly. "Then I have to protect her."

Ruth shut her eyes as Adam leaned forward. "Harry you need to take a step back."

Ruth had to strain to hear Harry's next words; his voice quiet as he focused on the picture she had handed him. "Yes, Adam, that'll help. Been doing that for twenty years with her and look where it's got me."

He walked out of the room, photo still clutched in his hand, and Ruth had no doubt that he would dig up everything he could find on Lasker. Ruth watched him leave the room and blew out a sad breath, closing her eyes once more.

"Okay, look he's right. The evidence, while strong, is not conclusive. Danny, stay close to her, I want you to try and find out more about her time in Israel and this Gilad Lasker character."

Ruth watched as Danny nodded, clearly unhappy about having to do some more digging on his boss' daughter. Ruth took a deep breath, and pushed her chair away from the table, intending to head back to her desk.

* * *

The next morning, Ruth picked up the phone and dialled a number, looking worried.

"Danny, it's Ruth." There was a rustling before Danny answered her.

"Hey."

"Our newspaper stringer's been offered some photos." She glanced down at the pictures in front of her.

"And?"

"The photos are of Nicholas Ashworth and his male lover."

"So?"

"Well, they.. they sent the kid packing but not before finding out that he … obtained them from his photographer brother."

There was a pause. "Who's the brother, Ruth?"

"Zoe's boyfriend. Will North. Looks like Will gave the photos to his brother to sell."

"Okay. Do nothing, speak to nobody. I'll deal with this. Listen, this is really important. I need protection for Catherine."

"Protection? But she's…" Danny interrupted her quickly.

"No. No. She isn't. Tell Harry she is definitely not a November Committee agent."

Ruth smiled in relief. "Oh, Danny, that's, that's fantastic news."

"I'm coming in to talk to Harry, but sort someone out to come over and keep an eye on the house."

Danny disconnected the line and Ruth waited for the dial tone to sound before she called a team of watchers to Catherine's address.

* * *

Forty five minutes later, the team were assembled around the meeting room table.

"So, Catherine doesn't work for Swift?" Harry sat at the top of the table

Danny shook his head. "No."

"She's just making a film?" Harry pressed Danny a little more. To Ruth it seemed like he wanted to know all the facts before feeling relief.

"That's all she's ever been, Harry. A film-maker."

Instead of breathing a sigh of relief, a muscle twitched in Harry's jaw and Ruth's brow creased as he spoke. "Bloody stupid one if she thinks she can mess about with The November Committee and not get hurt. Swift could have one of his men kill her"

Danny and Adam shared a look, confusion, at how Harry went straight to the negative side of Catherine's involvement with The November Committee.

Harry carried on, ignorant of the surprise of his team. "But how did they know she was my daughter?" He paused for a moment, and then his face changed infinitesimally as he came to a decision. He looked at Danny, his voice changing from thoughtful to sharp. "Right. You have to break cover."

Ruth saw Danny's face drop out of the corner of her eye as she watched Harry. "Break cover?" Danny was surprised and a little worried, by the sound of things. "Look, I don't think…"

Harry didn't let him finish. "That's right Danny, you don't think. Catherine trusts you, you must now protect her."

Zoe spoke up. "If Catherine isn't The November Committee agent, then… we're just back to square one, here."

Adam looked up. "Not really. What's Swift saying with this message? 'Back off, I'm too powerful for you.' He's given our tree a good shake but we can use that."

Harry was focused on the table, his expression one of understanding. "And now he'll be watching, looking for the bird to fly out."

"So we pull Danny out of the campaign and make it look as if we've removed our agent."

Harry was watching Adam now. "Which will make Swift overconfident."

Adam looked around the group. "Exactly. It will appear as if we've lost. It's Mohammed Ali and the Rumble in the Jungle strategy."

There was a slight smile playing across Harry's face as he spoke, more of a statement than a question. "Is it?".

"We stay on the ropes and then he'll lead us to their agent."

Danny looked unimpressed. "Why don't we just hit him now?"

Adam shook his head. "No. We need The November Committee network. Swift'll never give us that."

"So we pull Danny and put Swift under 24-hour surveillance." Harry had braced himself against the table, one of his hands resting near to Ruth's elbow on the table, and the other out in front of him as he spoke.

Adam grinned. "We can do better than that. We can get a tracking device on him."

Zoe rolled her eyes as Harry spoke. "And then move in whenever he deviates from his normal plan." Ruth couldn't help but smile at the back-and-forth between Adam and Harry; it was an impressive sight to see them so in sync and building a strategy as they went.

"No, how do we get that on him?" Zoe wasn't convinced of the plausibility of the plan.

If anything, Adam's grin grew wider.

"Catherine's information on the Swift libido is very useful." Ruth looked at Adam as he spoke, confusion covering her face. "I have an idea but it requires a woman who is ruthless, immoral, vicious and utterly lacking in human sympathy." Ruth didn't like the way Adam was looking at her as he spoke and drew in a worried breath. _He doesn't think…._

Adam smiled, as if able to read exactly what had been running through her head. "Not you, Ruth, terrifying weapon as you may be. No, I have someone completely different in mind."

Zoe and Danny shared a glance as Zoe spoke. "Who?"

Adam grinned, his eyes softening slightly. "My wife."

* * *

Ruth was sat at a computer with Adam sat on one side, while Harry stood on her other, one hand resting on the back of her chair, and the other on the desk before him. She glanced at him quickly before looking back to the screen. "Colin's got Swift's diary from hacking into his secretary's computer."

"Meeting with city financiers in half an hour." Harry noted one of the appointments.

Ruth made a noise of agreement before speaking. "Which he's cancelled at the last minute, pleading too much work."

Adam looked across Ruth, to Harry. "So we'd expect him to stay in his office. Our girl on reception will tell us…"

Danny interrupted at that moment, pointing at a map on London in front of him, where there was a red dot on the screen. "He's leaving the building."

Adam nodded. "Good. Put the surveillance team into position."

* * *

"The boyfriend?" Adam sounded shocked as Zoe explained to Harry, Ruth, Adam and Danny what the surveillance team found when they followed Swift.

Zoe nodded. "It's a terrible betrayal."

Ruth was fiddling with a coin as she listened to the others. "Well, they're not messing about," she said. "This is a war of civilisations for them."

Harry was sat at his desk. "That's how Swift has known everything. That's how he knew about Catherine. Pillow talk from Ashworth to The November Committee agent."

"Well, we've got a surveillance team on Richard Hollins. We'll tell Ashworth and get him out of danger." Adam shrugged. _It's as if he knows it's too simple to work. Something else will happen. It's never that easy._

"They're going to a restaurant tonight. It's their anniversary. Er, we could pull him in outside."

Adam nodded. "Okay. Good."

"Thank you, everyone." Harry dismissed them. Ruth noticed that he seemed less worried about the entire case now that he had actually seen and spoken to Catherine. Ruth was glad, she knew exactly what it was like to have to live without a father, and she couldn't imagine how hard it would be if her father were still alive and she never saw him.

Ruth called Zoe's mobile, and the phone was answered almost immediately. "Location of Target One?"

"Okay, it seems Ashworth and his boyfriend have gone to the Campaign office."

"But they were supposed to be meeting at the restaurant."

Ruth sighed slightly, her tone a little panicked. "Yeah, I know."

She heard Zoe blow out a breath. "Well, anybody else at the Campaign?"

"No."

"Listen, I'm gonna need backup. Get Danny there, right away."

Ruth put the phone down quickly and called over to Danny. "Zoe needs you at the Campaign office. Now!"

The operation had finished, with no one other than Patricia Norton dead, and Danny had made it to the Campaign offices in time to knock the gunman, Ashworth's boyfriend away from Zoe, who was then able to save Ashworth. Ruth was stood in the kitchen when her interest was piqued by Sam carrying a bunch of flowers over to Zoe. She made her way over to the two women, offering Danny a smile, as he sat watching Zoe with the flowers, a wistful expression on her face.

"They're from Will." Zoe gushed, and Ruth thought the change in her demeanour was striking. "You know what, I've, um, I've got something to tell you anyway, I, er. Will asked me to marry him." The last sentence was rushed out, and it took a second or two for Ruth's brain to realise what Zoe had said. She glanced over to Danny, whose expression was shocked. Zoe followed her gaze and turned to smile at Danny. She turned back towards Sam, Ruth and Malcolm, who had joined them. "And I said yes." Zoe grinned, and Sam clapped her hands together.

"When? When?"

"Last night!"

Ruth smiled at Zoe and her obvious happiness before once more watching Danny. _He hasn't told her about Will, his brother and the photographs. Oh Danny._ As she watched, Danny pulled out the photographs of Ashworth and Hollins which she had given to him, for when Danny would tell Zoe what Will had done. _Not now, Danny. Don't tell her now._

She looked back to Zoe, and gave her a quick hug, murmuring her congratulations. She really was pleased for her friend but worried that it would all be ruined by what Danny would do with those photos. She glanced to Danny once more, and was relieved to see he had put the pictures away, although now he was watching Zoe, his face a mix of emotions. _He really cares for her, as more than friends. Oh, poor Danny._

* * *

**Here we go, another chapter! If it weren't for the girls over at 3 Words, 8 Letters, this could have taken another age to get this chapter up! There was a chat about this episode earlier this morning/last night, and it inspired me to get this one finished!**

**So, thanks guys!**

**Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, this was a great episode to write!**

**~LouBelle04~**


	17. Chapter 17

**3.5**

It was almost ten am on the Saturday of Ruth's weekend off, and she sat with her feet curled under her, hugging a pillow, watching the dancing on screen, her eyes transfixed. _God, I love this film. _Before she knew what she was doing, she had raised her hand to her collar bone and was tapping out the tune of the music against her skin. She barely heard her doorbell ring and her eyes didn't show any sign that she had noticed her visitor.

"Ruth!" Malcolm called through the front door.

"It's open!" Ruth didn't move from her position on the sofa, knowing that Malcolm would let himself in at her call. She heard her front door squeak and smiled slightly, pleased that she didn't have to get up to let him in, and miss part of the film.

"I'm off to curling club this afternoon, I wondered if you…" Malcolm's voice trailed off, and Ruth shook her head a little.

"No thanks, Malcolm. All the same." Ruth realised she was probably being rather rude, by not looking at him, but she really didn't want to miss the film; it was her favourite part.

"Just make sure it's…" He seemed to accept her denial as if he had already expected it, and as Malcolm spoke, Ruth turned towards him, accepting the Jiffy envelope he was holding out.

"Back in Registry first thing Monday." She nodded at him, smiling. As she turned back to the screen, she noticed Malcolm waving from the corner of her eye. She waved back, half-heartedly, already reabsorbed in the film. As she began to tap out the tune against her skin again, she was reminded of the envelope Malcolm had given her. She sighed slightly, torn between the film and the file before her, which Malcolm had been kind enough to smuggle from Thames House at her request.

She pulled out a large wad of papers, bound together by a bulldog clip. 'Security Services Top Secret Material. UK Alpha Eyes Only. Source 28431. Codename: 'Karl''. Ruth scanned the covering page quickly, noting that the clearance level was well above her own, but not too worried by that. _As long as the higher uppers don't find out, it'll be fine. _Ruth was unsure as to whether Harry would be angry at her perusal of the document before her, but decided that it didn't matter; she would read it, either way.

* * *

On Monday, Ruth flashed her bag at one of the security guards as the other flicked through her bag, quickly. _Don't notice the file, don't notice the file, don't notice the file!_ She had been a little worried all morning about how best to smuggle the file back into Thames House before it was missed and hoped that nonchalance was the best move.

"Morning." She said, hoping her voice didn't betray her.

As the guard pulled out the Jiffy envelope, Ruth held her breath, but he barely glanced at it before returning it to its place and handing her the bag.

"Thank you." He smiled at her as they exchanged 'thank you's before Ruth made her way down to the Registry, dancing internally that she had not been caught by security with classified documents. _Now for the slightly easier part; getting them past the Registry receptionist._

Ruth made her way to the door of The Registry, giving the girl at the desk there a broad grin. "Morning!" her tone was bright, as it usually was when she visited the archive of files that lived there.

"Morning, Ruth. You're in early, don't tell me you've already got things to hunt for?" The younger woman, Jessica, was relatively new to her job, and Ruth had made it a point to befriend her, partly because she was down in The Registry regularly, and it wouldn't do to make an enemy when she needed to visit as often as she did, but also for times like this, when she needed to return or borrow some files to take home, when it was slightly against the rules to do so.

"Just dropping something back. Won't be long." Jessica nodded at Ruth, barely looking up from her desk, which was loaded with papers.

Ruth had discovered that Jessica generally wasn't too bothered about what Ruth did down here as long as she didn't leave a mess behind her, or do anything to get Jessica in trouble with her higher ups. Ruth had initially thought that Jessica wasn't the best person to be left in charge of The Registry if she wasn't checking up on what people were doing down there, but her opinion had been changed once Ruth had overheard Jessica bawling someone from Section F out, who had tried to sneak some files upstairs without permission.

Ruth had asked Jessica why it was that Ruth was able to get away with such things, when others weren't and Jessica had simply replied with the words "You're Ruth Evershed! You're almost a legend at GCHQ and everyone says you're brilliant and completely trustworthy." Ruth had blushed and stuttered her way through a thank you. She had had no idea that anyone aside from her contacts at GCHQ would even recall who she was, but apparently her name had left a bit of a mark. Ruth smiled at Jessica as she left The Registry, with a promise to have lunch one day during the week, and made her way up to The Grid.

* * *

Adam was wandering around the meeting room as Ruth stood to one side, focused on the image on the screen.

"Eric Newland. Do you know him?" Harry's question was directed at Adam who sounded surprised when he answered in the affirmative.

"There's enough expertise in that man's head to start a chemical weapons factory in a henhouse."

Both Ruth and Harry shot Adam a strange look as Adam grinned at the two of them. Harry shrugged and continued.

"I thought you might remember his name from your time in South Africa."

This time it was Adam who wore a confused look. "Is this a test?"

Harry's lip quirked into a semblance of a smile. "Not yet."

Adam began to explain to Harry and Ruth what he knew of Newland. "He's blackballed effectively by the UK's scientific community. Ran off during the Apartheid era and helped the South Africans get up to speed with the rest of the world on chem-bio research. He's freelance. Recently a consultant to a French agricultural chemical group. Penchant for Gucci loafers, I seem to remember." Adam glanced at Ruth as he recalled that strange fact, whose eyebrows creased together a little in confused amusement. "Funny how the brain works. Why?"

Harry was stood with his hands in his pockets, staring at the table until Adam addressed him. "He's back in the market, apparently. For funding, and a long term partner."

"Isn't everyone?" Adam's voice was facetious, and Ruth looked down briefly. Adam's tone had made her think of Ben, with whom she had broken things off over her weekend away from The Grid. _Now's not the time, Ruth, concentrate._

Harry's voice was gently reproving. "A research partner, so we understand. A little bird at GCHQ." Harry looked towards Ruth. "Can we request a deeper look?" Ruth nodded as Adam spoke.

"No-one funds his kind of research; not anymore."

"No-one legitimate funds it, no. The uses are too close to biological warfare to get any official help."

Ruth nodded her agreement.

"Okay. Well, Danny and Zoe should play scarecrow. Pay Newland a visit. Warn him off the idea in the strongest possible terms." Ruth made a face at Adam as he spoke. "What's wrong with that idea?" He looked at her, unsure what exactly she disagreed with.

"Well, the two people you're suggesting for it." Ruth glanced towards Harry, hoping he wouldn't see her objection as a black mark against Zoe and Danny, but needing to get her point across.

"We've never had any problem tasking them before." Adam also glanced towards Harry, wondering if he had any insight as to Ruth's remark.

She looked between the two men. _God, men can be so blind to what's in front of them._

"Zoe and Danny. Together. At the moment they're so entwined in each other's personal lives… er." Ruth pauses momentarily as she noticed Harry beginning to move around the table towards her. "A mission together could be…" she shrugged slightly, trying to find the right word, "fractious."

Harry was still advancing towards Ruth, and as he spoke, he walked slowly around her. "Nice bit of tension; keeps the nerves working." Harry's voice was low, suggestive, and Ruth was surprised to find that it sent a slight shiver up her spine. She glanced towards Adam, who grinned.

"Bring it on."

Ruth shook her head. _Men._

* * *

Ruth is followed out onto The Grid by Harry, and as they are about to part ways, they pause in their motions as they spot Danny approach the desk where Zoe is working and walk by her without even a glance. The look Zoe levelled him was not missed by Ruth and Harry. The former raised an eyebrow at the latter, who rolled his eyes and muttered something about tension being good for the work place as he walked away. Ruth shook her head slightly and called Danny's name, making her way across The Grid towards him.

He turned towards her. "Ruth."

She made her way near to him before speaking, not wanting to be overheard by any of the others milling about. "I take it everything's alright now?"

"Everything? What, in the entire world?" Danny seemed confused about her meaning, and Ruth wondered if he was just playing dumb, or if he really didn't know what she was getting at.

"With you and Zoe." At the mention of his flatmates name, Danny glanced in her direction. "And Will. The whole.. photos business."

Danny grasped her forearm, in what seemed to be a bid to stop her talking. "It's fine, Ruth." He began to walk away. "Don't worry about it."

Ruth wasn't convinced and followed him. "Oh good, because I _was _worried." Danny was out of earshot but Ruth continued talking, sarcastically to herself. "Now, obviously, I'm not." Her eyes followed Sam as she walked in front of her holding a bouquet of flowers, which she placed on Zoe's desk.

_The atmosphere in their flat must be poisonous! Zoe really needs to move in with Will, or sort this out with Danny. Although if Adam and Harry are determined to send them on this mission, then it may all come to a head sooner than expected. _Ruth chewed her lip, deep in thought as she sat down at her desk.

As Adam approached Zoe's desk, Ruth found that there was a strange stirring of jealousy in her stomach as she looked at the flowers sat behind Zoe. _Oh Evershed, grow up, you just finished it with Ben because you don't want to have to juggle the job and the boyfriend. Now just because you can't do it, nobody else should be able to, either? You could always… _As Zoe stood up and took the flowers away to the kitchen, Ruth shook her head to clear it of thoughts she didn't want to examine, at that moment and to rid herself of the stirrings of a ridiculous idea. She looked down, picking up her headset and clicking play on the recording she was listening to, although she couldn't help but glance surreptitiously up at where the flowers had been every so often, hoping that nobody would notice the wistful expression she couldn't keep from her face.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Ruth, Adam, Danny and Zoe were summoned to the meeting room by Harry. Ruth reluctantly paused the surveillance recording and stood up slowly, eyes flickering over the last few lines of transcript. She locked her computer, and made her way to the meeting room.

Harry began as soon as she had taken her seat.

"Doctor Newland will be travelling to Harwich tomorrow, he will board an overnight ferry." Once finished, he glanced at Ruth, who was sat next to him.

She looked down at the paper in front of her. "Departing 1500 hours, arriving Kristiansand, Norway, arriving 11.30 the next day. Now it's an import-routed ferry, so will be empty on its way out full coming back."

Danny, across from her, hadn't removed his eyes from her. It seemed as though he was steadily avoiding even looking towards Zoe, who was sat next to him. "Why?" he asked.

"GCHQ intercepted a mobile phone conversation. He's meeting a contact who's keen to fund his research on plague bacteria." Ruth glanced between the two field officers before her, taking in their rigid body language, and total avoidance of one another.

Adam took up the narrative. "We need you to travel with him and explain to him the error of his ways in the strongest possible fashion."

"That words will allow." Harry added seamlessly onto Adam's sentence.

Danny grinned slightly. "Operation Scare the Scientist."

"A night on a North Sea ferry, surely that's punishment enough?" Zoe's jaw was set, and her voice flat. For only the second time that morning, Danny glanced at her, his eyes for a moment amused, but then Ruth could almost see him clamp down on his emotions and the unreadable, annoyed expression was back.

They all turned to look at Adam as he stood from the table. "Pneumonic plague has a rapid onset. And most untreated patients die within 48 hours." On the screen before the team, there was a picture of a mouse, clearly dying. "It's zoomorphic, so it's passed from human to animal and animal to human. I mean, it's been around for a while, Black Death and what have you, it's not exactly breaking news. But Newland is perfecting a process that could mass produce _and_ deliver it to a large population." Adam paused for a moment. "It's home-brewed biochemical warfare and it scares the shite out of me I can tell you."

Harry spoke up. "From what we know, Newland is going to Norway to meet a fixer for the North Korean technology transfer. From what we understand, the North Koreans want to fund his research."

Danny looked up. "Getting himself a sugar daddy."

"Exactly." Harry didn't bat an eye at Danny's turn of phrase.

Danny shook his head. "What a prick."

"He's a free agent. As far as we can tell, he's become so entwined in his work he's not paying attention to the consequences. Now, I'm normally cautious about bandying around the phrase 'renegade scientist' but in this case, I'll make an exception. Giving North Korea Newland's expertise is simply hitting fast-forward to a potentially Biblical catastrophe."

"We need this worm turned." Adam looked at the two younger field agents before him.

"You two will be working together." Zoe and Danny turned to Harry as he spoke. "Any objections?" They shook their heads as Harry got up and left the table. Ruth watched him go, and at the door he turned towards her, nodding his head, as if to say 'told you so'. She looked down at the desk, jaw locking for a second, before getting up, and returning to her desk, quickly.

* * *

"_Not like that. I'm a successful man, aren't I?"_ A man's voice comes through, clearly through Ruth's headphones as she listens to the conversation with an old friend the man under surveillance is speaking to.

"_Last time I looked." _This time it was a female voice.

"_So why is the only thing I think about these days, the only part of my life I've neglected?"_

"_John, come on. You shouldn't be so down on yourself."_

"_I leave the radio on Rachel. I leave the radio on when I'm out at the office so that when I get home to an empty house at least there's some shred of human warmth there to greet me."_ Ruth draws in a shaky breath as she tries not to notice how she does a similar thing at her home. She kids herself that it's for the cats, so that they aren't completely alone during the day, but she is suddenly, horribly aware of her loneliness, and can completely identify with how John feels. Ruth's eyes are focused on the screen before her, listening intently to this man, John's voice, wondering all sorts of things about him. Things that she knew she shouldn't be thinking about. How long he's known this Rachel, have they ever been more than the obviously good friends they are today, what his hands would feel like in hers, what side of the bed does he sleep on…

"Ruth."

Ruth's head jerked up to see Sam stood there, and she yanked her headphones off in a panic. _Shit shit shit._

"What you working on?" Sam smiled at her slightly and Ruth hoped that she honestly didn't know what she was doing.

"Errr." Ruth shook her head as she tried in vain to come up with an excuse. She decided to stick with the borderline truth; she'd realised lies always work best that way. "Housekeeping surveillance, that's all." Too late, Ruth managed a smile at Sam.

"Oh. Okay." Sam didn't seem convinced. Apparently the lie was too little and too late for her to be believable. Ruth fell silent as Sam did the same, the former feeling horrible that she'd lied to Sam.

She took a deep breath. "And…" Ruth hit print on her computer and beckoned Sam to follow her over to the printers to receive it, and she spoke as they walked.

* * *

As Ruth retrieved the picture of the man she had been listening to on the surveillance recordings she made her way back to her desk, Sam following. "It's so embarrassing." Her voice was quiet, almost humiliated.

Sam's voice was too perky for Ruth's liking. "Why?" Ruth turned to look at her incredulously, but Sam continued, regardless. "We're digging around in everybody's lives. Stands to reason we're going to come across someone we actually like." After a pause, Ruth glanced at Sam, who was grinning mischievously. "So, what's he done? Anything appalling?"

"No!" Ruth looked around nervously, checking that there was nobody about to hear their conversation. She vaguely heard Sam mutter "shame" as they walked around a desk, so Ruth could put the print out down.

"No, he's not someone we're looking at because he's done something. He's someone we're looking at in case someone does something to him. It's housekeeping." Ruth's words come out in one big breath, keen to ensure Sam knew he wasn't a 'bad guy'. "He sits on various committees and boards, in the City. All kinds of people cross his path."

"He sounds important." Sam seemed genuinely interested in how Ruth was feeling about this guy, and Ruth was pleased to finally have someone to speak to about it, and get it off her chest.

"Oh, he is. Very. He's a powerful man. And therefore a very vulnerable one. People who _have_ been bad have been known to call his phone, so it's tapped, as is his office." Ruth was silent for a second, thinking back on the recordings she had listened to of him working. "He works so hard."

Sam leant forward, conspiratorially. "Is he just really nice?"

"He had a PhD in economics. He.. he was an athlete at university but he hurt his knee playing tennis in Spain in '92, a ligament; very painful. And he's a singer. I don't know why that should make a difference to me, I just… really like singers." Ruth cursed inside; she could hear her voice going up almost an octave at the end of the sentence. Even to herself she sounded silly; love-struck. And by a man who didn't even know she excited, let alone one she had spoken to.

Sam small smile became a full on grin. "You have been busy."

Something about her tone made Ruth panic, feeling that Sam was issuing her a slight reprimand. She stared at the desk until she had got her argument straight in her head, and then looked around once more, to ensure nobody had snuck up on the two of them while they were talking. "It's not as if I'm doing anything wrong.. really." She was shaking her head as she spoke. _That's right, Ruth. At least try to fool yourself before you try and fool Sam._ "Just… looking at them."

"Course not. Not like you're taking them home at the weekends."

Ruth's head snapped up once more, trying to keep her face from betraying her, as a flash of Malcolm handing her an envelope at home the previous weekend came to her mind. "Please don't tell anyone."

Sam grinned. "Come on, I've been looking at the Brazilian Embassy personnel files for weeks."

Ruth's brow creased. "Why?"

"It's like a male model convention over there." She grinned, one which Ruth was finally able to reciprocate, and then leant forward, to where Ruth had put the photo of John, the singing economist with a knee injury.

Ruth picked it up and hid it, quickly. "Get your own." Sam stuck her tongue out at her, causing Ruth to laugh as Sam walked away.

* * *

It's nine hours later when Ruth next sees Sam, who's about to leave for home. "Getting the tube?"

"I've, err, got some things to catch up on, actually."

Sam nodded knowingly, and then grinned at her. "Have fun!"

Ruth quirked a small smile, relieved to have someone who she could talk to about the whole mess. She turned back to her computer and clicked play, rewinding the last few seconds which she had missed.

* * *

Another two hours have passed, and Ruth is still sat at her desk, listening to the transcripts. It's just past nine pm and Ruth had just fetched herself another cup of coffee, to keep her going while she listened to one section of the recording a second time. She fiddled with the post it note and pen in her hand.

"_I don't think I will, to be honest, I.. I have a lot of things to catch up on tonight."_

A different male voice spoke. _"Burning the candle, John?"_

John's slight laugh came through the headphones. _"The candle melted long ago." _Ruth smiled, John had a sense of humour too. _"See you for lunch tomorrow?"_

"_Julie's, one o clock?"_

"_I'll be there. And awake. Bye, Bill."_

As the phone clicked down on the recording, Ruth glanced down, towards the post it in her hand, where she had written 'Julie's' and circled the restaurant name. She tapped it with her thumb, her head a mess of two debating sides. _Dare I go? I could actually meet him._ The thought sent a slight shiver down her back. _I'll speak to Sam in the morning, see what she thinks._

With that, Ruth turned off the recording, and made her way home.

* * *

She opened her front door, the cats rushing to greet her. In the stillness of the house, the radio was still on, just how she'd left it. She felt a momentary pang of loneliness as she thought about what John had said in one of the recordings she had listened to that day; about the radio giving some shred of human warmth to the empty house when he gets home.

She smiled weakly at the cats, petting them half-heartedly, before going through to the kitchen and sorting them out with dinner, and making herself a quick cup of tea.

Ruth curled up on the sofa with her teacup, the cats arranging themselves around her once they had eaten. She didn't move to touch the television remote sat next to her, instead preferring to sit alone with her thoughts; the radio providing a soft background for her.

Eventually, tea finished, Ruth fell asleep on the sofa and the cats followed suit.

* * *

It's 8am when Adam approaches her desk and he looks at his watch in surprise. "Last out, first in again?"

Ruth attempted a small smile. "My name is Ruth Evershed and I'm a workaholic." Adam smiled back at her. "The last transmission of Newland's mobile phone was from a mast ten miles east of Manchester."

"What about Tweedledum and Tweedledee?"

Ruth grinned at the reference as Adam began to walk around her desk so he could see her computer screen with the GPS signal on it. Ruth felt a dart of panic run through her as she realised she still had the transcript from her late night listen to John on her desk. She picked up a large holepunch which had been sitting on her desk and placed it quickly over the filename. Just in time, apparently. Ruth glanced up at Adam to see if he had noticed anything, but his eyes were focused on her computer screen. _That was close, Evershed. Clean up better next time, you idiot!_

She realised Adam was actually waiting for a reply to his question, and pointed at the dot on the GPS map which represented Danny and Zoe's car. "Keeping pace." He nodded and wandered away.

* * *

Ruth wasn't sure how she'd ended up outside Julie's Restaurant at five past one, but she hadn't had a chance to speak to Sam that morning in private, and therefore wasn't able to ask what she thought about the idea. At some point that morning, she had phoned Julie's Restaurant and made a reservation. Her stomach was one big bundle of nerves as she paused outside of the restaurant. _Just do it, Ruth. He has no clue who you are. When you go in, you'll just be an unknown woman to him._

She inhaled sharply and entered.

"Do you have a reservation?" The waiter come straight over to her, a smiled fixed to his face.

"Yes. For.. for Smith." Ruth was glad she had thought to give a fake name when she had booked the table.

"Just for one." It was a statement, although Ruth nodded at the waiter anyway. He smiled at her. "No problem, this way."

Ruth's brow creased involuntarily; something about the man's tone made her nerves bubble over. "Why should it be?"

"Sorry?" The waiter seemed nonplussed.

"Why should it be a problem?"

"It isn't."

"You just said it wouldn't be a problem. Is.. eating lunch on your own a problem?" The waiter led her up some stairs, and Ruth could hear herself talking, although she wasn't quite sure why.

"I certainly didn't mean any offence." He didn't sound sincere to Ruth, but her retort was cut off by him directing her to her table. "Have a lovely table for you. Number seven. By the window."

_What. No. That's not right._

"I'd like the table I booked please. It's table fourteen."

"Of course." He gestured to a table near them. "I'll just get you a menu."

Ruth nodded silently, sitting down as he walked away. She hugged her bag to herself, taking in the surroundings and the flowers on her table. She brushed her hair from her face and looked to her right. _John's table._

A few minutes later, Ruth was fanning herself with her menu when the waiter showed him over to his table. The one next to her. _John._ _Oh God, he's as gorgeous in person as he was in the picture. Don't stare!_

Ruth quickly tore her eyes away from him before he noticed her watching. John chose to sit on the same side of the tables as Ruth, and once he'd taken his seat, she chanced another quick look at him and was sure that she caught him looking at her. She subtly took note of the shoes he was wearing, and followed his trousers up, until she reached his lap, where his hands were tapping out a silent tune against his leg. She watched his hands for a moment until she saw him move out of the corner of her eye, and rearranged her gaze so it was once more on the menu before her.

At that moment, the waiter returned. "Something to drink?"

Ruth looked up. "Water," she croaked. _Shit._ She cleared her throat. "Sparkling, please, with.. with lemon."

The waiter turned from Ruth to John. "Something to drink, sir?"

"Sparkling water with lemon, please."

"Alright."

Ruth couldn't help the small smile which graced her face at that moment. What are the chances their drink orders would be the same? A thrill ran through Ruth as she tried to fight the urge to glance at John once more.

She heard the clattering of silver as John's knife fell to the floor. She reached for it, on reflex, only to find John did the same. She gasped as she felt his hand rest on hers, her insides turning to jelly. His hand was warm and shivers ran up the length of her arm from where his hand had brushed hers. Ruth looked up at him, breathlessly, turning almost fully to face him now, a shy smile playing across her face.

"Sorry," she uttered.

"Sorry," he repeated. He smiled and Ruth watched as he placed his knife back on the table, still able to feel where he had touched her. "Clumsy oaf; can't take me anywhere." He hadn't taken his eyes from her since they touched and Ruth could feel herself blushing slightly under the scrutiny.

Ruth smiled, nodding and was about to speak when she noticed a man approaching their table. She fought the bitter disappointment that washed over her as the man, Bill spoke.

"Sorry John. Bloody fire alarm. Wouldn't let us go without ticking us off a list."

Although she was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to talk to John any longer, she couldn't stop elated feeling inside, that she had spoken to him and felt a definite connection.

"No problem." John shook off Bill's apology, and Ruth swore she could hear him smiling.

At some point the waiter had brought over their drinks, and Ruth picked up her glass, and noticed John do the same.

"So, I've put you down for the scratch Requiem tonight."

"No you haven't." John's voice was quiet, unwilling. Ruth's ears pricked up.

"Actually, John, I have. Louise and have decided you're working too hard and a spot of pro-am Mozart is just the thing to take your mind off." Ruth glanced over to John's table as Bill placed the Requiem information on top of the tablecloth. "Usual story, turn up, sing some Mozart, drink some wine."

"When and where?" Ruth couldn't help but glance over as Bill handed John a piece of paper. "St. Martin," he said. "Very nice."

"We went last year and had a blast. There's hardly any rehearsal, black tie, turn up and belt out. Go on. Say yes."

_Yes, John. Say yes._

"Alright then."

"Excellent." Ruth's lips quirked into a brief smile once more.

"Always do with a good scratch. Especially where Wolfgang is concerned." This time, Ruth broke out into a full smile. This lunch would be worth it, just for those few, brief words they had exchanged, never mind with touch.

* * *

Ruth was back at her desk by half past two, and knew she must look slightly odd, having had a smile affixed to her face ever since she had left the restaurant. She typed in her password and checked her e-mails, the smile suddenly becoming a frown.

"Um.. Adam!" she called across The Grid, and he came over.

"Find Harry."

They made their way across The Grid and found their boss in a hallway between the meeting room and his office.

"Why didn't we know about this before?" Adam asked.

"GCHQ had some problems looking into the accounts. There were quite a few."

"So the money transfer's already occurring?" Harry didn't look happy, an expression which was matched by Adam.

"Yes."

"We know this?" Harry pressed.

"I mean… perhaps, is what I meant to say. Not yes." _RUTH. Concentrate on your work, and not the feeling of John's hand against yours!_

"Big difference." Harry was staring at her.

"All we know at the moment is the extent of the financial content of his secure e-mails. Luckily the North Korean fixer side aren't that great at encryption."

Adam looked at Ruth, who shrugged. "If he's already been paid, then he's not going to negotiate any more, is he. He's gonna do the bloody work."

Harry was unconvinced. "Now we're jumping ahead. Let's just confirm it." He turned back to Ruth. "You're working on the bank accounts?"

She nodded at him. Harry walked away, still speaking. "Is that a yes? Or a perhaps." _Shit._ Ruth couldn't tell whether he was joking, or if he was deadly serious and she was running the risk of being fired with her absentmindedness. She hoped that he was joking, they had joked around before, but his tone of voice was unforgiving. _Keep your mind on your work and not on John, Ruth, otherwise you can kiss goodbye to MI-5._

"It's a yes." Her answer may have been completely belated, but she felt better for having said it, even if it was only Adam there to hear her.

* * *

A little later, Ruth is standing over her desk as Sam approaches. "Can I help?"

"Er, can you make sure I'm paged if any GCHQ communications come in with this reference, _please_?" Ruth handed Sam a post it with the reference she was talking about written on it.

"Sure." Sam looked at the code and then back to Ruth. "How was your lunch?"

_What. _"My lunch?" _She doesn't know what you did, Ruth, calm down._ "What lunch?"

"The lunch you ate. You missed a good lasagne."

Ruth looked down. _You're an awful liar, Evershed. How many times do you need to be reminded._ _Mysteriosity. Come on._ She pulled in a deep breath. "Sam, can you… keep something to yourself?"

Sam smiled slightly, nodding.

"I had lunch with _him._"

"And?"

Ruth shut her eyes briefly, remembering. "Un..feasibly handsome." Ruth could barely push the words out, but Sam grinned at her, leaning forward slightly.

"So what's the next step?"

Ruth shook her head. "Why is there a next step?"

"Why isn't there?"

Ruth looked between Sam and her desk dismissively, shaking her head. Before either had a chance to say anymore, Malcolm came over, handing Ruth a file.

"Newland's bank accounts."

"What about them?" Ruth opened the file and scanned it, quickly. Time to go back to Harry, then.

* * *

"Newland's UK accounts have zeroed, everything's headed for Switzerland." Ruth looked at Harry, who was reading the file she had given him when she and Adam first entered the room.

"Are these the actions of a man who intends on returning to this country?" His voice was low.

"Perhaps a visit to his flat?" Ruth suggested, hoping Harry wouldn't make any remarks about her use of the word 'perhaps'.

Adam nodded. "I can get a team in there in half an hour." As Adam wandered from the room to phone a team, Harry spoke, quietly.

"He's going to do it."

"We thought this meeting was just to be about paying for more research, but from the looks of these amounts of money, one would have to assume the plague research is completed."

"We need an upstairs opinion." Harry stood from where he had been resting at the edge of his desk and left the room without even glancing at Ruth. _He's not still annoyed about the yes/perhaps slip up earlier, is he?_ The last few days, Harry had been distant with Ruth, whom he usually kept as a confidante in work matters. He'd barely spoken two words to her which were not 100% work-related, and she found herself missing their usual playful banter. She frowned in the direction he had gone in, and made her way back to her desk, wondering if she could have done something unwittingly.

* * *

Two hours later, Ruth was absorbed in some files when Sam dropped a booklet on her desk.

"Oh…" Ruth picked up the libretto to Mozart's Requiem. "No…." She shook her head.

"Yes."

"No." Ruth looked up at Sam, her face a little fearful. "This.. isn't what I had in mind." She put the book to one side, still shaking her head. "Really."

Sam leant forward. "What did you have in mind?"

"Just…" Ruth glanced around quickly, "to see him."

"Is he, or is he not, exactly the sort of person you've been waiting for?"

Ruth found herself unable to hold Sam's gaze, and closed her eyes briefly as she responded. "He _is, _but.._._"

Sam wasn't having any of it. "No buts. When someone extraordinary comes along, however that is, you've gotta go for it!" Ruth looked down at her desk, clicking a pen lid nervously. She knew Sam was right, but…

"I'm scared." She voiced.

"Scared? Some people are scared of going outside their flat."

"I know."

"Other people only get the fear when the Great White Shark that's attacking them has a spider on its nose." Despite herself, Ruth laughed at Sam. Only she would come up with something like that. "My point is, we've all got things we're scared about. But doing them is what makes us feel alive. When was the last time you really felt alive like this?"

"I.. I can't remember."

"So come on! Go to this thing, enjoy yourself. Ask him out."

"How?" Ruth shrugged her shoulders, a vision of helplessness.

"Just… ask."

"Hi, I've been listening to your phone conversations for twelve weeks."

Sam grinned. "Not that bit, obviously."

At that moment, Malcolm walks by, and clocks the libretto on Ruth's desk. As he walks on, he's humming the tune to the Requiem. Sam and Ruth both notice and share a small smile.

"You need a wing man."

"You'll come?"

"I can't sing to save my life. But…"

Sam looks at Malcolm and Ruth follows her gaze.

* * *

"I can't do it."

Ruth walked out onto The Grid, quickly, in an attempt to out-walk Sam and Malcolm who were hot on her heels. Unfortunately, her quickened pace was to no avail, as Sam spoke once more.

"Of _course_ you can." There was a pause behind her. "Malcolm, tell her."

Ruth had stopped at her desk once she'd realised they weren't going to just give up and leave her alone. She turned to face Malcolm as he spoke.

"I could be your brother. Giles. I knew about the concert, I invited you along. You could hold onto my coattails, you won't have to raise a finger." Malcolm walked away and Ruth turned, stunned in the direction he had left. Sam intercepted her gaze.

"When is it?" she asked. Sam didn't wait for an answer. "9 o' clock? Plenty of time to make up your mind." Sam grinned and left Ruth alone at her desk. Ruth watched her go, her mind a whirl of thoughts.

_Can I do this? It's almost stalking. Hell, Ruth, it _is_ stalking. I can't do this. It's too weird. There's no way I can do this. No, that's it. I'll tell them no._

Ruth froze as she recalled John's face and the tingling of her hand where he had touched it at lunch. Without thinking, she lifted her hand and lightly pressed her lips to the spot John's fingers had touched.

_I have to go. I'll spend my life regretting it if I don't. Oh God, I can't believe I'm going to do this._

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ruth was piling her belongings into her handbag. She had told Sam of her decision a few minutes ago and the younger girl had almost burst with excitement. Sam had gone to get ready to go back to Ruth's house, where she had promised her to help pick out a dress and calm her nerves. Just as Ruth logged off of her computer, Sam returned.

"You okay?"

Ruth shot her a look. "What do you think?"

Sam nodded, her face sympathetic. She grabbed Ruth's arm, linking it with her own, and the two of them made their way to the pods.

* * *

Ruth stepped out onto the landing at her house, pausing at the top of the stairs.

"Sam." She called out, and Sam came into view in the hallway downstairs. As she caught sight of Ruth, a grin spread over the Scot's face.

She nodded approvingly. "Gorgeous." Ruth managed a smile back, her insides in knots.

"What do I say?"

A flicker of confusion flashed across Sam's face. "To who?"

"Him." Ruth couldn't manage more than a few words at a time, her voice was so stricken with nerves.

Sam took a step forward. "Ruth… You've been on a date before, haven't you?"

Ruth nodded. A long drawn out nod. Sam held her gaze until Ruth cracked. "Not for a long time. Not like this." As Sam started up the stairs, Ruth stood still, chewing the inside of her cheek in the absence of a pen to fiddle with.

* * *

Ruth was sat on her bed, and Sam had commandeered her dressing table, which was covered in all sorts of make-up items, most of which Ruth didn't own, and many of which she was confused as to their use.

"I'm just scared, that's all. About what to say. About what could happen if I get found out. I could lose my job. I could get arrested and thrown in prison. I could go to Tring, you know, I…"

"Ruth!" Sam interrupted Ruth's ramblings. "Shut up."

Ruth was aware that her voice was tinged with desperation, but she didn't care. She'd never been on a date that meant so much to her before. She knew she wouldn't even be considering doing this if it was anybody else; the risks were too high, should everything go wrong. She had refused to see Ben on plenty of occasions when work had got in the way, but the way she was feeling at the moment, Ruth would have ignored a red flash to have the opportunity to see John just one more time.

"Sam. I need some tips. Please, just.. anything."

"Anything?" Sam stopped for a moment, clearly contemplating advice. "Just play dumb, look impressed and ask a lot of questions. Guys love that." She nodded. "Okay. Here comes camouflage." With that, Sam opened the first of many pots of make-up, advancing on Ruth, grinning.

* * *

The two of them were just making their way down the stairs when the doorbell to Ruth's house announced Malcolm's arrival. Sam was gripping Ruth's hand and Ruth was hoping that her nerves weren't as obvious as they had been half an hour ago.

"You alright?"

Ruth 'hmmmed' unconvincingly, but Sam just patted her hand. "Okay, so. How did you hear about tonight?"

"Er, my brother, Giles dragged me along."

"Good." Sam opened Ruth's front door to reveal Malcolm in his tuxedo and bow tie.

Ruth grinned, he looked lovely. "Good evening, Giles."

Malcolm returned the grin. "Susan."

* * *

The ground was wet as Malcolm and Ruth made their way through Trafalgar Square, en route to the Scratch Requiem which was a few hundred yards away. Ruth was almost shaking with nerves and kept shaking her head to herself, which Malcolm must have noticed.

"Don't worry, sis." He turned towards her as she stared straight ahead. "You look lovely."

"This is stupid. Stupid, stupid.." Ruth took in a breath to repeat the word, once more for good measure when Malcolm interrupted.

"Right, now, Susan." His voice took a tone not dissimilar to something that a person would use when placating a child. "All we're going to do, is do some singing."

Ruth nodded slightly. "Singing. Yes." She squeezed Malcolm's arm. "Thank you, Giles."

As they went up the steps Ruth saw the lights of St. Martin's in the Fields, where they would be spending their evening and nearly balked. Her step faltered, but Malcolm, her saviour once more, took her arm as they crossed the road and made their way to the entrance.

An usher greeted them at the door, offering to take their coats, which the two of them declined politely, although Ruth undid her scarf as they approached the singers, already in full swing. As Ruth passed the conductor she offered a smile to those in the front of the crowd, who parted to let her and Malcolm through. Malcolm squeezed Ruth's arm again as he found her a place in the group, before leaving her and making his way towards the back, where the tenors where gathered.

Holding the libretto in her hands, Ruth couldn't stop herself glancing about to try and see where John was. On her third pass through the gathered people, she spotted him, a few rows behind her, to the right. Once she had found him, Ruth couldn't seem to keep her eyes away from him, and she was aware, as she looked once more, that he would notice at some point if she kept this up. _Oh, damn, too late._ Ruth faltered slightly but John smiled at her. Ruth turned back to the front quickly, a smile gracing her face as she sang.

Towards the end of the piece, Ruth turned to look at John only to find his gaze already fixed on her. When her eyes met his, he diverted his gaze. Ruth couldn't help but grin. _At least it's not just me staring at him. Unless he thinks I'm a weirdo stalker. Oh God. I bet that's it._

She forced herself to swallow as the end of the song came.

* * *

Once the Requiem had finished, everyone was offered a glass of wine, or liqueur coffee, which Malcolm accepted. By this point the two of them had shed their coats and made their way into the main hall, where there were people everywhere, milling about and chatting.

Malcolm smiled at Ruth, playing his brotherly part to a tee. "Any luck?"

"Keep talking." Ruth spoke through her smile as Malcolm led them over to where John was standing.

"Well, I must say I found that very enjoyable." He directed his statement to John, just as much as Ruth, ensuring he was a part of their conversation without actually having to introduce one another.

John nodded at Malcolm before turning to Ruth. "Quite a blast."

"Wonderful."

John didn't turn back to Malcolm at all once he had set his eyes on Ruth and it warmed Ruth inside, although she could see Malcolm grinning at her from John's side.

"Have you been before?" John asked, smiling at Ruth.

"No." Ruth found herself stuck for words, but John still couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

"Neither have I." He seemed to catch himself and suddenly held out his hand to Ruth. "I'm sorry, John Fortescue."

"Susan Hepburn." Ruth shook his hand, and felt a tingle not dissimilar to the one she had felt at lunch, once before. She gestured towards Malcolm and John followed her gaze. "This is my brother, Giles." Malcolm and John also shook hands.

"I heard you belting it out with the tenors, Giles." As John spoke with Malcolm, Ruth ran her gaze down John, almost breathlessly.

"Oh, one tries ones best." At that moment, Malcolm gestured to his half-empty cup. "Would you excuse me?" Without waiting for a response, he walked away, leaving Ruth and John alone. There was a few seconds of silence, where the two of them were stuck for words until Ruth spoke up.

"Wait a minute… Didn't we…" she paused. "Didn't we.. have lunch together, today?"

John paused for a moment. "Oh my goodness, you're right. You were.. at Julie's. You were.."

Ruth nodded as John stumbled over his words. "I.. I dropped my knife. How funny."

Ruth giggled slightly and John's beamed at her. "I didn't think you were coming to this." Ruth waved her libretto at him. "I mean, I'm afraid I overheard you say you were going to sing in a Scratch Requiem, but until Giles dragged me along… I didn't really know what one was."

John shook his head in amazement. "How extraordinary." Without taking his eyes from her, he gestured behind him with his glass. "Would you like a drink?"

Ruth nodded, beaming back at John. "Yes."

He held his arm out, allowing Ruth to walk in front of him and they made their way over to the table where a variety of drinks had been set out.

* * *

"Your knee? Oh dear, how painful." The two of them were walking about the room, drinks in hand as John had begun to tell Ruth about his tennis injury. _Right, Evershed, don't let on that you know all of this._ "Have you played much tennis since?"

"Unfortunately not, bit of a workload on at the moment."

"Oh, I know." _Shit._ "Er, I mean… it's the season for it, or something. I'm swamped."

The way John looked at her at that moment, Ruth had to fight to keep her legs steady and prayed they wouldn't collapse from under her. All it took was one look from this man and her legs felt weak, like jelly. _Is this what it's always supposed to feel like?_ Ruth realised that she had never felt anywhere near the same in any of her previous relationships, and she marvelled at the idea that she had found this feeling with John, who really had no idea who she was.

"So what's it like playing tennis in Spain?"

"What's it like?"

"Is it…" _Oh jeez, Ruth, really. _She cringed internally as the next word left her mouth. "Hot?"

John chuckled slightly. "Er.. yes." His tone held no contempt for the stupidity of the question, instead he seemed rather amused, which pleased Ruth. _Maybe Sam has the right idea._ "Yeah, very."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ruth and John had found a place to stand, a few metres away from others in the room and were talking quietly.

"I'm amazed you find the time for anything, given your schedule."

"You've just about hit the nail on the head there. That's why my friends put me up to all that warbling tonight."

"You sounded terrific from where I was standing." Ruth leant towards him slightly as she spoke, more of a wobble on her heels than an attempt to move closer to John, but he didn't seem to notice, something which Ruth was grateful for.

"So did you." He smiled at Ruth and her heart swelled once more. Ruth hadn't realised you_ could_ feel this much for a man that she had only met properly once. "So are you glad… you came warbling?"

John didn't remove his eyes from Ruth as he spoke, leaving Ruth with the impression that he wasn't pleased he came to the Requiem just for the singing. "Very much so." There was a moment of silence as they looked at one another, and Ruth's could feel herself blushing slightly. John suddenly turned, as if he realised he had been staring at her and gestured to the room around them. "It's lovely isn't it?"

It took Ruth a second to process the conversation, her mind still caught up in the colour of John's eyes. "It is. I never come down here. I live in the city, but I never really take time to appreciate it…"

John was nodding at her words. "So true. There's no time for culture. No time for exercise." Ruth smiled and looked down into her hands. "No time for love. It's appalling."

"There's always time for love. One should make time."

There was another moment where all the two of them did was gaze at one another.

"I suppose so. Though with my innings so far… Well, anyway."

"Any.. major disappointments?" John turned to look at her, his expression suddenly uncertain. "Sorry to be so.. personal. I, er, I didn't mean to be."

John shook his head. "Oh don't worry. Major ones, not really. I tried marriage. That didn't work." He turned to look out over the room, but Ruth didn't take her eyes from his face, trying to ascertain how he was feeling.

Ruth had to stop herself from nodding in recognition. _You aren't supposed to know this stuff, Ruth! Although… I never found out _why_ his marriage didn't work. Maybe…_

"Another woman?"

"No, actually, another man." He turned back to her. "My wife looked elsewhere."

Ruth looked down. "I'm sorry."

"She's still with him, actually. She feels happier, I'm sure. He had the passion to make her feel wanted, I think. I wonder where mine went."

"I expect it never left you." Ruth smiled softly as John turned towards her. He was looking at her in slight wonder, as if trying to understand what was happening between the two of them. _You can't be the only one feeling this connection between you, Ruth. Look at him. He's bemused by this too._

"Maybe you're right."

Ruth tore her gaze away from his before she said something silly and looked out over the room, although from the corner of her eye, she could see John still watching her.

"Are you… Is everything alright?"

"Fine. I'm fine." _As if the dopey grin on my face isn't giving me away._

"Well that's good." _God, his voice is like velvet._ Ruth felt at that moment that she could listen to him talk to her for the rest of her life.

"And you?"

A flicker of confusion crossed John's face. "Me?"

"Are you.. fine?"

"Oh yes." John nodded.

Ruth had to once more force herself to look away from his eyes; otherwise she wouldn't be able to compose a sentence.

"This is nice."

"It is, yes."

"Do you fancy some air?" Ruth turned to look at John as he spoke.

"Yes." Ruth nodded her head slightly before the two of them turned to place their glasses on a ledge behind them and made their way from the room.

* * *

They were slowly walking around Trafalgar Square, the fountains beautifully lit, and the Square itself almost devoid of other people.

"It's a nice dress, you have on."

"Oh, it's, it's quite old, actually." _Come on Ruth, all you needed to say to that was thank you._ What was it about this man that turned her brain to mush?

"But your suit is nice." _Really? 'Your suit is nice.' _That's_ what you're going with? Oh God, really?_

John looked down towards his shoes, appraising himself quickly. "It's my father's actually. Bit tight round the middle, these days."

He patted his stomach self-deprecatingly, and Ruth giggled. To her delight, John laughed along with her.

They came to a natural stop and as Ruth turned towards John, she gestured at his shoulder.

"I, I think you have a …"

"Do I?" John tried to look at what had caught Ruth's attention.

"On your shoulder…" Ruth moved her arm towards the offending item.

"Where?"

John looked at Ruth as she spoke. "A feather or something."

Ruth smiled as she removed the feather from his jacket, brushing it to the floor. She froze as she turned to look up at John once more, only to find him watching her. This time, she finds herself unable to hold his gaze and looks away nervously. _Ruth, reach up and kiss him._ Try as she might, Ruth can't make herself move, almost paralysed with nerves. Her gaze flitters between the floor and back to John's eyes but Ruth is unable to keep looking at John; however badly she would like to. After a silence, heavy with the kind of tension that arises when two people want to say something so badly that they find themselves immobilised, Ruth looks away once more.

"Oh it's.. so late. I, I didn't realise." _No, now you've blown it. Now he thinks you're trying to get away. _The opposite was true, as Ruth would have been able to stand with him, all night, not saying a word, as long as they were together. Her nerves had gotten the better of her.

John pulls away from Ruth's eyes and looks down at his watch.

"Yes, gosh, look at that." Their eyes connect once more. _Maybe, this is it._ "We've been talking…"

Ruth nods. "A long time."

They gazed at each other once more and Ruth drew in a shaky breath.

"But it's been lovely." John spoke, his voice quiet.

"Yes. It.." Ruth looked down. _This is it, it's over now Ruth. Nothing will come of this._ She forced her gaze back up to his. If this was going to be the last moment she spent with this man, she would look him in the eye and take in everything she could about him. "It has."

It was John's turn to draw in a breath and he leant forwards slightly. _Oh my God, he's going to kiss me._

Ruth gasped softly as she and John held their connection. She managed to turn it into a half laugh which John smiled softly at and Ruth could feel herself shaking.

_Say something, Ruth. Ask if he would like to do it again one day, or ask to swap telephone numbers._

"Goodbye." John sounded as if there was nothing in the world he wouldn't prefer to say more than goodbye; a sentiment that Ruth could understand.

"Goodbye." Ruth echoed the word, smiling at him, although inside she could almost feel her heart break as John walked away slowly.

She turned away from him, not wanting to watch as she let someone so wonderful walk away. Ruth watched the ripples of the fountain and realised, in that moment, that this would be the way things would always be for her. She was too afraid to take a chance, and she just let John walk away from her, without a word. Ruth realised that, for the rest of her life, she would always be alone.

From nowhere, a lump appeared in her throat and she nodded hopelessly, accepting her lot in life and holding back the tears. She walked away from the fountain quickly, not wanting to stand there any longer; the place where she had broken her own heart, by not attempting. _There's a Shakespeare quote which fits this moment, I'm sure._

* * *

The next morning, Ruth sat on the tube, a newspaper open before her, hiding her face from others around her. Tears which she had not let herself cry when she had got home were brimming in her eyes and she felt them splash down her cheek each time she blinked. When Ruth had gotten away from Trafalgar Square she had remembered to text Malcolm and let him know that she had gone home. She hated texting at the best of times, but was aware that she wouldn't have been able to speak if she had called him. He text her back to see if she was okay, and Ruth replied that she was fine. She couldn't begin to tell Malcolm how wonderful the night had been and that it had ended in a broken heart.

When she had walked in her front door, she paused only to remove her shoes and pull the fastenings out of her hair before she walked slowly up the stairs, and dropped onto her bed, fully dressed, where she slept fitfully until her alarm chimed the next morning.

Ruth didn't remember much of her commute into work; thoughts running through her head as if on repeat. On autopilot she managed to make it to Thames House, and she sat at her desk, staring into space, ignorant of those around her. She blinked slowly, hoping to dismiss the music in her head; the Requiem which she had sung last night ringing in her ears, egging her on to cry. _Not here, Ruth. You won't cry here._

* * *

She was jolted from her thoughts by Sam placing a mug of tea down at her side.

"We need to do an audit of all Registry housekeeping surveillance."

"I'll do it right now." She heard Sam walk away but couldn't bring herself to look at the young woman, who she was sure was bursting to know what had happened last night. She would tell her, eventually, she knew. _Just not now._

Ruth continued talking, as Malcolm walked over, putting a plate of biscuits next to the tea Sam had left. "There are major holes in the background checks we're doing on all blue and green tagged assets."

"I'll draw up a list for you."

This time, Ruth watched Malcolm go, surprised at their compliance. Not that they would usually have ignored her requests, but they seemed to be tiptoeing around her. Ruth was grateful that neither of them had asked about the previous evening, and she was sure Malcolm would respect her privacy in the matter.

"Good." She nodded slightly, looking over to Sam's desk, where the young woman was typing away.

At that moment, Harry leant over her. His tone was soft and low. "Ruth, whatever you do in your spare time is entirely your business, as long as it doesn't cross over with our business."

"I understand." _So basically Evershed, he's noticed something's wrong with you and is telling you to snap the hell out of it until you're not in office hours. _Ruth held his eyes and then remembered that was part of what she had been unable to do with John, yesterday.

She looked away sharply as Harry spoke once more. "I'm sure you do."

"I mean, we can't let that sort of thing get in the way of work, can we." She nodded at Harry, looking for reassurance, for what, she didn't know.

"Of course we can't." With that, he walked away.

Ruth looked down at her desk, tears once more blurring her eyes. _Two minutes, and then I won't let it get in the way of work anymore._ She stood suddenly and made her way to the toilets, where she allowed herself five minutes to break down. _Boxes, Ruth. Tom spoke about boxes, where we put parts of ourselves._ With that in mind, Ruth pushed all thoughts of John and loneliness away into a corner of her brain, took a deep breath, and made her way back to her desk.

* * *

**This episode actually broke my heart a little to write; after finishing this chapter, I find that I am totally shipping the two of them, and that I wish they had had a chance at a relationship! I actually really struggled with this chapter, so I hope it reads okay, and it's not too.. weird.**

**~LouBelle04~**


	18. Chapter 18

**Pre-3.6**

An e-mail popped up on Ruth's computer terminal, from Sam. She glanced up to where Sam was sitting, just across from her, at her own desk. Sam's face was tight and she looked nervous.

'Ruth.' The e-mail read. 'There's something I have to tell you. And I'd rather you heard it from me than from Harry. Meeting room, five minutes?'

Ruth once more looked over to Sam, confusion written all over her features. She nodded at the younger woman, and was a little worried to see Sam's face pale a little. As she watched, Sam gritted her teeth, and stood casually, as if steeling herself for what she was about to do. Ruth's mind went into overdrive. _Oh God, what could have happened? Oh no. It's not about the mess with John.. please don't bring that up_. Ruth looked back to the e-mail. '_I'd rather you heard it from me than from Harry.´_ Ruth went pink and she realised exactly what Sam was about to say to her.

It had been a little over a week since she had returned to The Grid after her misadventure with the Scratch Requiem and her meeting with John Fortescue. The others had been particularly cautious around her, especially Sam and Malcolm, and Ruth had been grateful for their avoidance of what had become something Ruth wished to forget about, and move on from. Ruth found that her hands were shaking slightly as she prepared to go and see Sam, so she decided to make the two of them a cup of tea, partly so she had something to fiddle with as Sam spoke to her and partly as an excuse to leave her desk.

* * *

Ruth walked into the meeting room and wordlessly handed Sam a cup of tea. She nodded her thanks and took a deep breath. Her mouth opened but then shut again.

"Harry knows, doesn't he?"

Sam's head shot up at Ruth's words and Ruth could almost see her brain working as she nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, Ruth. He figured out what you were doing, and then told me to keep an eye on you. He wanted me to encourage you to go out with him."

Ruth swallowed. "Malcolm too?"

"I'm not sure if Harry spoke to him or not. It was my idea to get Malcolm to go with you to the Requiem, Harry didn't do that, but I don't know whether he had already spoken to Malcolm. I'm so sorry." Sam looked down into her cup. "That's not the worst part though. A few days ago, Harry called me into his office - he called it a debrief-type-thing. He wanted to know what happened when you went out, so I told him I didn't know but you seemed down about it. He said he was going to speak to you about the whole thing."

Ruth nodded, resignation written all over her face. "Right. Thank you for telling me, Sam."

"Ruth, I am sorry. Really."

"I know, Sam. It's okay."

And it was. Ruth couldn't bring herself to be angry with Sam for egging her on, even though she knew she wouldn't have gone to the Requiem under her own steam. The lunch had been all her own idea, after all.

Sam nodded and gave her a brief hug before leaving Ruth to her thoughts. Ruth was beginning to be able to think clearly about the whole debacle and was coming to realise that she had been so lonely and so focused on her work that she had been drawn into someone else's life, and had fantasised upon the idea of John.

Since she had broken up with Ben a couple of months previously, Ruth had been feeling an intense loneliness, even when she was in the midst of a group of people. When she had begun listening in to John's life, the way he had spoken about being lonely had struck a chord with her. Ruth realised that listening to him speak about it, combined with her own crushing loneliness probably skewed her thoughts and focused them in an odd direction.

In a snap decision, Ruth decided that she was done with her meagre attempts to find love. She would focus her attentions on work, even more so than she did at the moment. There was just the small matter of Harry and the discussion Sam said he wished to have with her.

* * *

It was a week later when Ruth received the summons to Harry's office, via e-mail. She stood quickly, taking a deep breath and walked into Harry's office without knocking. She was surprised to see Harry hand her a sheaf of papers with the heading 'Ruth Evershed Disciplinary Hearing'.

As Ruth took them wordlessly, she was slightly shocked by the fact that this would be a permanent stain on her record, as opposed to a stern telling off. No real harm had been caused by her actions, except perhaps to herself, and Ruth was nonplussed by Harry's decision to hold a formal hearing.

"These will need your signature, Ruth. This hearing will have to be recorded too."

"Er, right. Okay." She sat down in the chair across from Harry's desk. Her confusion must have been evident over her face as Harry's next words were not what she would presume was a 'usual' beginning to a formal hearing.

"You know why we have to do this, Ruth, don't you?"

Ruth nodded slightly. "Of course. I have erred and now I must repent."

"What you did was a big breach of protocol. Possibly even illegal."

Ruth took a breath. "I know, and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Listening into phone taps is all very well - but engineering chance lunches on the table next to the person you're listening to? Going to Requiems so you can sing alongside them? Taking Malcolm along to pretend to be your brother? It's madness, Ruth. That's what it is."

"I know, and like I said, I am really sorry."

"You do understand why we can't let things like this happen, don't you?"

"Of course, I do. 'Our job is to protect. To serve. To maintain the status quo.' Isn't that what you always say?"

"Yes, that is our job."

"And I was doing none of those things."

Ruth was getting more agitated with every question of Harry's. Yes, she had been wrong and Harry had established that she understood her error, and she had said it wouldn't happen again. _This going too far, it's ridiculous. He doesn't need to keep going on like this._ There was a small part of Ruth that realised that she was maybe feeling a little touchy, because after all, nobody likes having their mistakes aired out for the world, and perhaps she was just overreacting to Harry's prodding. Although there was another, much larger, part of her which was telling her Harry was blowing this telling off out of proportion in comparison with the severity of the incident.

"You have to think about the moral implications of this. What would this man think if he knew you'd been eavesdropping on him in this way?"

"I don't know, I never saw him again."

"Well, I'll tell you what he'd think. He'd think it was downright creepy; that's what."

_Yes, Harry, I get the point. There's no need to get personal._

"Just how were you going to break the news to him 'What do I do for a living? Well, funny you ask, but actually I'm a spy and I listen into people's conversations. People like you, for example. And I liked the sound of your voice.' Piff, whiz, Mr Random Man vanishes into the ether, calling the News Of The World as he goes."

Ruth, who had been focused on her hands for his speech, looked up. "It wasn't like that, Harry." Her voice was quiet, ashamed.

"Maybe it wasn't, but I don't really care what it was like. Actions have consequences, Ruth. I want _you_ to think through the consequences of _your_ actions. What if you had seen this man again? What if you'd let slip how you'd actually come across him? What if he'd told the press?"

Ruth closed her eyes, shaking her head. "It… it doesn't bear thinking about."

"It doesn't. But let's think about it for a moment."

_Why, Harry? I understand. I screwed up. Stop, now._

"The press would have crucified you. They would have crucified all of us. 'Lonely, single MI-5 officer uses job as a dating agency.' I can see the headlines now."

"That's not a very good headline. They would have come up with something much better than that."

Ruth wasn't sure what possessed her to say that, but her frustration at Harry, and the whole situation was making her feel like a teenager who had been found with an unsuitable boyfriend. So, in true teen spirit, Ruth responded facetiously. As soon as the words passed her lips, prepared herself for another ear bashing, but was surprised when a laugh burst through Harry's lips.

After a moment, he spoke again. "That's not the point, Ruth. What I'm saying is that you would have been hung out to dry."

"It was a mistake. I'm sorry. A silly mistake. It hasn't happened before, and it definitely won't happen again."

There was a pause Ruth saw Harry nod slightly and prepared herself to leave, thoroughly chastised. They had covered all the bases of a disciplinary procedure and Ruth was certain Harry's next words would be a dismissal and a hint to go back to work.

"But can you explain why? You seem so level-headed normally."

_God, Harry, why are you pushing this?_

"I am. I am level-headed. I.. I was lonely, I suppose, as you say. And there was something different about this man. He was kind; he was fatherly. He was successful…" Ruth was aware that her explanation of why John was different made it seem as if she had a daddy-complex, and was after John for his money and prestige. She hoped Harry knew she was none of those things, because she didn't think she could dredge up the all the reasons she had fallen for John so quickly, and so hard. Time, it seemed, really did give some perspective to a situation.

"That's okay, Ruth. There are worse crimes than being lonely, you know. All I ask is that you separate your life from work life; your time from office time; your goals from our goals. Whatever you do in your time is your business, but you can't let it get in the way of work."

"My work is my life. They're inextricably entwined."

"Well, un-entwine them, then."

Ruth looked in Harry in amazement. "Oh, it's that simple, is it?"

"It's never simple. But we can make it simple. We have to make it simple."

Ruth didn't even pause before responding, and the words just flowed from her, totally unchecked.

"Well, I think you're pretty damn simple, Harry. To put it like that. To reduce it to black and white lines. Why did you have to make such a game out of it? Why did you go through the elaborate charade of putting Sam onto me? Why did she keep track of our e-mails? Why have Malcolm play along too? Dammit, Harry, you can be a coward."

"Finished?"

"Yes."

Ruth stood from her chair and walked over to the door, anger radiating from her in waves. As she reached for the handle, she turned back to Harry.

"And this disciplinary process is a shambles. Slapped wrist, Harry. That's all it needed. Not this recording nonsense. Have you lost all sense of proportion? What's real for you anymore? What turned your heart to stone?"

With that, Ruth left the room, slamming the door behind her. She stopped on her side of the door and clasped a hand to her mouth. _Oh my God. Did I really just say all of that to him? Jesus Evershed. You'll be on the next train to GCHQ before you can even blink._ Ruth had felt a sense of growing frustration over the last few weeks; at herself; the loneliness that didn't seem to go away; how Harry had set Sam and Malcolm onto her; and finally at the 'disciplinary process'. All of that frustration had burst out of her, and Harry had been the victim of her anger.

As she stood, still frozen in front of the closed door, she heard Harry speak once more.

"Not stone, Ruth. Far from it."

His voice shook Ruth from her reverie and she darted away from the door, returning briefly to her desk, grabbing her coat and heading up to the roof to get some fresh air and clear her head of all thoughts. She didn't want to think about what she had just said to Harry, or the note that would be going in her file as a result of the disciplinary, and she definitely didn't want to think about the strange tone of Harry's voice when she was outside the door.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this!**

**~LouBelle04~**


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